


The Winter Baby

by DumpsterDiving101



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Assassin Bucky Barnes, Avengers Tower, BAMF, BAMF Bucky Barnes, Baby, Badass Bucky Barnes, Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Co-Parenting, Communication, Domestic Avengers, Feel-good, Fluff, Funny, Gen, Humor, Nicknames, On the Run, Oops, Parent Bucky Barnes, Parent Tony, Parent Tony Stark, Parenthood, Parkour, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pre-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark-centric, bucky barnes is on the run, bucky has a kid, jarvis the pansexual, tony stark doesn't always know boundaries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-05-10 09:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14734388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DumpsterDiving101/pseuds/DumpsterDiving101
Summary: Tony Stark acquires a baby, but not just anyone’s baby; it’s Bucky Barnes, AKA The Winter Soldier's baby. He is tasked with the duty of finding the winter soldier and getting him his kid. The only problem is that no one actually knows where Barnes is (as well as the fact that, oh right, he’s a highly trained assassin. But that’s a tomorrow problem.)





	1. Chapter 1

The business trip was routine, with the basic objective of diplomacy, upselling, and the general script that Tony had recited dozens of times over. This particular visit took place in Ukraine, the little country between Russia and Romania where most everyone spoke Ukrainian. Tony, however, did not, but was able to get by without having to rely on his translator too much. As it turned out, Ukranian had Slavic roots, the same as Russian, and while most people spoke only the former, a decent amount of signs also had Russian on them, which Tony was almost fluent in. He was fluent enough to be convincing at least, and that was all that really mattered.

Tony spent a few days going to meetings and talking with the heads of a few companies SI was partnering with. A few fancy dinners and lots of handshakes later, Tony had convinced the company heads to buy a variety of high-tech Stark Industries products for all of their factories and offices alike, signing a multi-million dollar contract.

“Jarvis, text Pepper ‘they signed, I told you so’." Tony commanded, striding through the hallway like he owned it. “Happy, can you get me some ice? I'm thinking of cracking open the minibar.”

“I need you to come with me,” Happy said in an altogether too serious tone. “I haven't checked your penthouse for threats yet, and people have been staring at you all day. I don’t trust the situation.”

Tony rolled his eyes, still ahead of Happy so he wouldn't see, not that that made a big impact. “Come on Happy, I'm _Iron Man_ , I'm not worried about some rando breaking into my hotel room.”

“Well maybe you should be,” Happy argued. Tony didn't have to turn around to know that he was scowling, his brow furrowed and lips pressed together in a thin line. “If you won't come with me, at least wait in my room. I'll get your ice and then check your room for you.”

Tony rolled his eyes and grumbled some more, but eventually agreed. Happy had high blood pressure, mostly due to stress, mostly due to Tony, and Pepper constantly reminded Tony to go easy on him.

Happy let Tony into his room- which was not small, per say, but was notably smaller than Tony’s suite- and Tony called something out into the hallway about raiding Happy’s minibar, when he turned around and found a woman staring at him.

“Oh,” he said, staring at her. “It looks like Happy ordered from the wrong room service menu.”

The woman stared at him. She was younger than him it seemed, but not by much, and if she were to clean up then she would undoubtedly be beautiful. But at the moment, with her dark hair straight from grease and her clothes loose and slightly stained, she didn't look beautiful, she looked angry. “Tony Stark, where is he, he's supposed to be with you?” she spoke English with a heavy Russian accent, arms crossed across her chest.

Tony continued to stare at her. “Don’t tell me you’re here for Happy, no offense, but you're a bit out of his league.”

“No, you stupid man, the soldier. They say he’s working with your little crew now, where is he?”

Tony blinked. “Look, Captain America-"

“Not that one!” She hissed. “The other one, the _Winter_ Soldier.”

Tony stared at her like she had just switched to a different dialect that he didn't understand. “The Winter Soldier?” She nodded. “What do you want with him?”

“Come closer and you'll see.” Her tone and eyes were equal parts challenging, and Tony continued to stare at her, trying to decide if she was going to stab or jump him. If she knew the Winter Soldier the former was probably more likely, but Tony supposed there was only one way to find out.

He crept forwards, keeping an eye out for traps, but there weren't any. He exited the hallway and looked at her. She just stared back, arms crossed as she waited. Tony glanced around the room and was about to open his mouth to speak when he saw it. “You're kidding me.”

On the made bed sat a baby sitting in a carrier, sleeping silently.

“Tell Winter Soldier Ivanka says ‘fuck you’. I watch baby four months, now I am carrying baby of my own and need to prioritize. Therefore, give baby to daddy.”

Tony stared at the little creature, still trying to decide how real this was. “So-- to clarify-- this little _thing_ is the product of the Winter Soldier and a woman named Ivanka?”

“Yes, you stupid American. I call it Nikolai but I don’t care what name Baby Daddy uses, not my problem.”

“What about Ivanka? Where’s she?”

The woman tilted her head, staring at Tony like he was the stupidest person alive. “Ivanka is somewhere, underground, maybe in a bunker or maybe in the dirt, I do not know. She was an agent, for who I do not know, just that she has baby with soldier and asks me to care. Fine, but I can’t watch baby, not with a gremlin of my own on the way.” She started to leave but Tony grabbed her wrist. She twisted her arm and broke free from his grasp instantly but didn’t try to run again, instead pushing her shoulders back as if preparing for a fight.

“Listen,” Tony said, trying to put on his ‘reasonable’ voice, the one he used with stubborn reporters or interns who tried to challenge his authority. “I don’t know where the Winter Soldier is— nobody does, actually.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Then you’d better start looking.” Then she turned and strode out of the room, leaving Tony alone with the baby.

He stared at Nikolai in his carrier. The baby was still sleeping, so quietly that Tony found himself moving forwards and pressing the backs of his fingers to the infants cheeks, just to check. The baby’s skin was soft and warm.

“Tony, I got the— what happened?”

Tony glanced up at Happy who was standing in the doorway, a container of ice in hand. Happy closed to door, almost dropping the ice in his grab for his gun.

“Oh, put the gun away, she’s gone,” Tony ordered, scowling. He looked back at the baby. He was so small, _so small_ , with only a little bit of light hair on his head. “A woman was in here, except she wasn’t expecting you, she was expecting… the Winter Soldier of all people. And she left a present.”

——————-

“I don’t know how to change a diaper,” the flight attendant, Stacey, said, giving Tony a weird look. “I’ve never had kids.”

“No, no, of course not,” Tony said, running a hand through his hair. “But aren’t women, like… I don’t know! Come on Stace, I’m sure you have some sort of motherly instincts, estrogen, fuck… a sixth sense? Mama bear instinct?” Stacey stared at him like he’d switched to Russian, which for the record, _he hadn’t_. “Just try it, okay? I bought diapers.”

“Um, I guess.” Stacey picked up the bag, going over to where Nikolai's carrier was, carefully unstrapping him and bringing him over to a blanket on the floor. “Such a cute baby. Aww, he’s wearing booties.”

“Yes, if you could just… change his diaper, without the fashion critique. Thank you.”

Tony looked away as she started the process, then realized that he might have to change a few diapers before they figure out what to do with the child.

“Um… Tony? His name is Nikolai, right?”  
  
“Yeah?”

“And he’s a boy?”

Tony turned around. “Oh. I guess not.”

—————-

“Home sweet home, bird,” Tony said, lifting Nikolai to see the living area of the Avengers tower.

“Bird?” Happy questioned, carrying Tony’s suitcase, briefcase, and Nikolai’s carrier.

“It’s kind of cute, right? I’m trying to come up with good nicknames.”

“Why not just ‘Nicky’?”

Tony made a face, half shrugging and referring to the baby. “What do you think? Nicky?” Nikolai didn’t respond, too busy staring around at the room to say anything. That, and the fact that she was still a baby who couldn’t speak any language, much less English.

Tony shifted Nicky on his hip, glancing around the living area. “Thanks Happy, I’ve got it from here. Jarvis! Is anyone home?”

“It appears as though no one is currently in the building.” The relaxed voice of Jarvis said from the speakers embedded in the walls. Nikolai giggled when she heard the voice, looking around for the source.

Tony groaned. “Where are they? I come home for a nice, family dinner, and they’re all out on the town without me, so rude. So rude, isn’t it Bird, isn’t it?” Tony bounced Nicky on his hip, making her giggle more.

“My records show that Master Bruce is currently residing at his lab in Memphis, Thor is in Asgard, Emperor Sam moved out three weeks and two days ago, and—”

“Emperor Sam?” Tony questioned, making a face. “Jarvis, change that to ‘the flying peasant’. What about Nat and Steve?”

“Agent Romanov and Steve Rogers are currently on a mission, according to my last known records.”

“Do we know where?”

“No details were given, however—”

“Do you have the security footage?”

“Yes; however, they didn’t mention their whereabouts. Time stamp 8:39pm, two days and sixteen hours ago, Thursday—”

“Yes, that’s fine Jarvis.” Tony carried Nikolai over to the throw rug, gently setting her down on it on her stomach. She couldn’t crawl yet, but Tony had read on the plane that ‘tummy time’ was important for development. “What about Pepper? Is she still in Cali?”

“Miss Pepper Potts is currently at Stark Industries headquarters and is expected back by nine thirty tonight.”

Tony sighed in relief, rolling his shoulders. “Good. Text her ‘come home ASAP, there’s a baby’.”

“Sent. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Pull up SHIELD’s secure database, keyword ‘Winter Soldier’.”

“The SHIELD’s secure database is password encrypted.”

“Honestly, you think they’d have just given me a password by now. Fine, pull it up on my screen and I’ll override it. Thank you, Jarvis.”

“My pleasure, Master Tony.”

——————

Tony was getting nothing on the Winter Soldier. Apparently, SHIELD knew about as much about his whereabouts as Tony did. Which was impressive, as the Winter Soldier was one of the few things Tony knew very little about, right up there with water polo and taking care of newborn babies.

Regardless, Tony scoured as much of SHIELD’s data on the soldier as he could, skipping over some of the files he’d read earlier that year. The Winter Soldier used to be a friend of Steve’s before World War Two. Steve had seen him again about a year ago when Barnes was involved in Pierce’s plan to overthrow SHIELD— a cute attempt, but it hadn’t worked. Afterwards, Steve had filled all the Avengers in on basic information about Barnes in hopes that if anyone saw him, they could identify him. However, none of them had had any luck.

All of Barnes’ files were at least a year old, meaning this endeavour would be more difficult than Tony had previously thought. “Maybe Steve knows how to get in contact with him,” he suggested out loud. “Oh, well. Don’t worry Nicky, we’ll find your Dad. We’ll find him and… thoroughly interrogate him about what exactly he was doing… a year and two months ago? Three? How old are you munchkin?”

Nicky still didn’t respond, which was frustrating. If Tony had designed her, built her from scratch like Dum-E or Jarvis, her communication skills would be much more advanced. He shrugged. “I guess you’re still new technology. Or maybe… you’re made up of old software? It sounds to me like your daddy was born in 1917.” He pulled up her left sleeve a little, just to reassure that she didn’t have a secret metal arm. “Hmm. I don’t see the resemblance.”

“Master Tony, I predict it will be approximately fifteen minutes until Miss Potts arrives,” Jarvis announced, making Nikolai smile widely. “There are leftovers in the fridge if you would like to eat.”

“Thank you Jarvis, I think I will do just that.” Tony stood, then looked at Nicky, who was still laying on her stomach, grinning toothlessly. Tony ended up flipping her onto her back like one would gently flip over a pancake, deciding she had probably had enough tummy time.

———————

“Tony, you have some explaining to do.” Pepper declared loudly, her voice higher and shriller than normal and her heels clicking loudly on the floor. “Why do you have a baby?”

“Pepper, you’re home! Gosh, I missed you, how is everything? SI still running smoothly I hope?” Tony gave Pepper a cheesy smile, but she simply crossed her arms, not falling for it.

“Explanations. _Now_."

Tony huffed, wiping his hands off on his trousers. “Well, Happy and I were in this hotel in Ukraine and a woman broke in and just… handed it to me.”

“And you took it?” Pepper scolded.

“What, should I have just left it for the maid service? Besides, apparently it’s mom’s a spy, I’m guessing with ties to HYDRA, and you won’t believe who it’s father is: The Winter Soldier.”

Pepper blinked, her mouth slightly open. “Oh… Oh God. This isn’t just a random baby, or… your baby… this is an Avengers baby. Oh, and we were doing so well too, the company was thriving, I thought things were settling down—” Pepper started pacing, talking not only with her hands, but to her hands. “Oh, Tony—”

“You might not want to go over there,” Tony warned as she made her way over to the sitting area. “It’s a bit— oops. Too late.”

Pepper stared at the baby on the floor. “Oh. Oh Tony…”

“Cute, Huh? No metal arm, I know, I was disappointed too but we take what we can get. Pepper, meet Nikolai, the kitten I’ve been keeping alive for the past twelve hours.”

Pepper still looked distressed but she reached down, picking up the baby and holding her comfortably. “Kitten?”

“I’m trying out nicknames,” Tony explained. “I like ‘bird’ but want to switch things up. What do you think about kitten? Is it weird?”

“She’s a little girl,” Pepper said, as if just processing. “Oh Tony—”

“Yes, I hear you, you don’t have to keep saying that. Look, we watch out for her for a few nights before we can get ahold of her pops, what’s the harm?” Tony took Nikolai from Pepper’s arms, bouncing her on his hip and trying to get her to smile. “Besides, she’s cute, right? Kind of looks like me, don’t you think?”

“Oh, Tony… how could she look like you? She’s Russian. I mean, she does a little, but—”

“Russian-American,” Tony corrected, the smile gone but his voice a little more playful for Nicky’s sake. “Barnes has a dual-citizenship, but he was born in New York. In 1917– I know, right?” He addressed Nicky, making his voice silly as he bounced her and went “Your daddy’s oooold.”

“He looks young,” Pepper defended, her automatic response when she didn’t know what the hell to do. “Barnes does. They froze him and he has a version of the serum, like Steve. Face it Tony, we’ll probably be long dead someday and they’ll still be running around, making messes and saving the world.”

“Great, he’s got the serum too. So I shouldn’t be surprised if little Nicky here tries to pick me up for a change?” Tony’s tone was joking, but as soon as he said it his expression dropped.

“Shit,” they said in unison.

——————-

That first night was more painful than it should’ve been, especially when Nikolai started crying. They tried everything— changing her diaper, feeding her cows milk, rocking, _everything_ , until finally Pepper realized what time it was and suggested that the baby was probably just tired. Then there was the problem of not having a crib. They considered a few ideas, including just letting her sleep on the throw rug in the living room (it was comfortable enough), giving her Steve’s bed (hey, he wasn’t using it), and having Tony rig up something really quick. That, combined with the baby’s endless screaming and the fact that both of them had been up for far too long, lead to a screaming match.

“We don’t have time for you to build her a fucking super crib, she needs to go to bed now!” Pepper yelled, looking halfway to crying herself.

“I never said a super crib! Come on, it will take fifteen minutes—”

“Maybe we should just let her sleep in one of your suits! The iron man suits can solve all of our problems, can’t they? Just make sure she doesn’t accidentally set off one of _the fucking lasers!_ ”

The argument was made even more exciting when Nicky stopped crying for a few moments, staring at them, and then throwing up on herself. It turned out babies her age weren’t supposed to drink cow’s milk.

Eventually, they cleaned her up and then strapped Nikolai back into her carrier and brought it into Tony’s room. She was asleep within five minutes and Tony and Pepper were left slouching together and staring at the sleeping baby, both completely drained of energy.

“I don’t care how long it takes the Winter Soldier to come claim his damn kid,” Pepper said, her voice quiet. “I don’t care if he picks her up tomorrow. You will buy the necessary equipment to take care of her, or I swear to God—”

“I’ll get the stuff,” Tony agreed, too tired to even be obnoxious. “Thanks Pepper. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Damn right you couldn’t’ve.” Pepper exhaled, her shoulders slouching. “Goodnight Tony.”

The next day went smoother, especially after Tony went to the store and bought a few necessities: a fold-out crib, some simple baby toys, more diapers and wipes, formula, and a handful of other things in the baby aisle of Walmart that looked helpful. The twenty-something mouth breather who checked out his items stared at Tony for longer than necessary before going “You’re the Iron Man. Tony Stark. Wow. I’ve always wanted to meet at least one of you.” He looked at the excess of baby items, not closing his mouth. “What's the baby stuff for?”

“I got a cat,” Tony said sarcastically, tapping the edge of his glasses so they would darken into sunglasses. “And I have somewhere to be.”

Tony had imagined that Nikolai would love Pepper— female estogenial motherly instincts and all that— but it turned out Pepper was much more a businesswoman than she was a mother. When Tony got back, Pepper was trying to hold Nikolai in a comfortable way but was having no luck, the baby writhing and squirming around in her grip.

“Morning sunshine,” Tony said with just enough genuine happiness to be annoying, “hand the rabbit here.”

Pepper did and Nikolai was immediately comforted. She gnawed on one of her tiny hands, using the other to grip onto Tony’s shirt. “She’s a rabbit now?” Pepper questioned after she’d been disentangled.

“Yeah, what do you think? Rabbit or bunny?”

“You could call her something normal like ‘Sweetie’ or ‘Cutie’.”

Tony made a face at Nikolai. “Don’t let meanie Pepper get to you. She doesn’t take you seriously.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “She’s a baby. ‘Sweetie’ and ‘Cutie’ are nice nicknames!”

“Too sugary for me,” Tony said, doing the silly voice for Nikolai’s benefit. “I’m going to get diabetes!”

“Do you want help setting up the crib?” Pepper offered.

“Ignore her,” Tony said, still talking to the baby. “She’s just trying to be mean. How about this, how about you tell mean Ol’ Pepper that I’ve been designing military grade weapons since I was your age,” he said, poking Nikolai softly.

“I was trying to be helpful,” Pepper argued, “and for the record, I hope you don’t make the crib like you make weapons, otherwise the Winter Soldier might need to come a lot sooner.” There was a moment of hesitation before Pepper asked the question they were both thinking. “How do you plan to get in touch with him?”

Tony bobbed Nikolai on his hip, one of the baby’s tiny hands still gripping tightly onto his shirt. “Steve should be back soon. I was planning on talking to him about it, seeing if he has a phone number or a pager or something.”

“A pager?”

“I mean, he’s an old dude, isn’t the cliche that old guys don’t know how to use technology?”

Pepper sighed, except for once her exasperation wasn’t aimed at Tony. “My dad was that way. It took me years to get him to agree to even get an email address, and he still barely knows how to use it.”

Tony tickled Nikolai’s stomach, making her giggle. “Can’t relate.”

“Master Stark, I have an incoming video call from Bruce Banner”, Jarvis announced. At his voice, Nikolai looked around excitedly. “Shall I put him through?”

“Here, quick, take her,” Tony said, quickly passing Nikolai off to Pepper. “Jarvis, put Bruce through onto server L-2.” Tony stepped over to one of the holographic screens that popped up by the couch, quickly tilting it just enough so that Pepper and the baby were out of view.

“Hey Tony.” Bruce’s face appeared on the screen, his glasses on and the top button of his shirt undone. He was scowling. “Listen Tony, I know you’re probably busy but I’ve been working on this formula and I can’t get it to work. Can you check it out?”

“Yeah yeah, sure, send it over.” In the corner of his eye, Pepper was trying to hold Nikolai comfortably, but the baby was squirming. Pepper adjusted her arm and Nicky slid a little before she could tighten her grip, struggling to support her properly.

A cluster of equations and notes appeared on the side of Tony’s screen, too many to read in full. He scrolled through them. “Have you accounted for the atmospheric pressure?”

“Yeah, line… forty-three.”

Tony used his finger to scroll to it. “Good… What’s the line below it? Altitude?”

“Yeah.”

“It has the wrong altitude.” In Tony’s peripheral, he could see Nicky squirming more, trying to get out of Pepper’s grasp. Nikolai made a little whining noise, trying to push Pepper away. “You’re in Memphis, it’s a lot higher there.”

“Oh, thanks Tony. What was that noise?”

“Nothing. Hey Brucie, have you heard from Steve or Natasha?”

“No, I-” Bruce paused when Nicky let out another whine, her lower lip trembling. “Who’s with you?”

“It’s Pepper, we’re working on SI stuff. Let me know if you hear anything about them, okay? And Bruce, can I ask you something? What do you know about The Winter Soldier?”

Bruce half-shrugged, his glasses sliding down his nose. “Um, nothing more than you, I don’t think. He’s… Steve’s old friend? Hydra, um, metal arm… there was the thing with Pierce… and now I guess he’s out in hiding or back with Hydra or something. I don’t know, I try not to mess with that kind of thing. But I’m pretty sure he’s one of the deadliest assassins alive, assuming he’s still…” Nikolai began to cry, actually cry, and Bruce trailed off. “Tony? What’s that?”

“Just Pepper, the big baby. Okay, well I’m glad I could help, Brucie! Remember to tell me if you hear from Cap or Nat, I’ll talk to you later.”

Tony hung up before Bruce could say anything else, waving the screen away and grabbing Nikolai from Pepper’s hands. “Remind me to never have kids with you, you’d be a horrible mother.”

“Remind me why I would ever have kids with you?”

“Um, my charming good looks?” As soon as Tony had Nikolai comfortably in his arms she stopped crying, just looking around plainly. “My charming personality? My salary?”

“I'm the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world. I’m good on money.” Pepper forced a smile and Tony returned it, just as comically forced.

\-----------------

It wasn’t _that_  hard taking care of Nikolai. Especially with the help of one of Tony’s closest friend.

Jarvis.

“Master Tony, it has been four hours since Nikolai’s last feeding.”

“Oh, right.” Tony wiped his hands on a oil rag. “Dum-E, heat up the formula. Jarvis, how is Nikolai doing?”

“She seems to be quite content playing with her new toys.”

“Oh yeah? Does she like the plastic shapes?”

“On the contrary, she seems to prefer the cardboard box.”

Tony turned around, looking at Nikolai where she was laying on the throw rug. The toys Tony had gotten her were to the side and she was half inside one of the boxes.  
  
“Amazing,” Tony said blandly. “Next time I'll just get the box.”

As the week went on, Tony learned more about taking care of babies and about Nikolai in specific. He didn't know how old she was, but he made his best estimate and starting searching the mommy sites online for information. He learned about tummy time, as well as making sure she spent enough time on her back and sitting up. He was supposed to feed her warm formula every four hours or so, and that she was probably old enough to start supplementing with real food too.

Nikolai took two naps a day and went to bed at seven thirty every night. She liked the shag carpet throw rug from the living area and the science shows that Tony left on the TV for her sometimes, though he did try not to let her watch TV often. She also liked the music he played when he was working, as long as it wasn't too loud.

Pepper still was no good at holding her and she was busy with SI. Still, she managed to come home at night, and if it wasn't too late she would collapse on the couch and turn on the TV for a little while. They watched sitcoms and Nikolai slept against Pepper’s chest.

One night, when Pepper was still out, Agent Phil Coulson stopped by, friendly smile and casual demeanor in tow. “Tony. I heard you’ve been on babysitting duty.”

At the time Nikolai was on the carpet in the living area, hidden by one of the couches. Tony tried not to look back at her. “Oh yeah? And where exactly did you hear that?”

“Classified,” Phil said, the word rolling off his tongue easily. “But I was sent to retrieve her. Thanks for everything Tony, I’m sure you’ve done a great job taking care of her, but SHIELD can take it from here.”

“Hmm.” Tony tapped his chin, considering the offer. “Do you have, I don’t know… a warrant? Something along those lines, you know, a piece of paper with a random signature or something?”

Phil blinked.

“A permit maybe?”

“We’re SHIELD,” Agent Coulson explained. “We don’t need permits.”

“Well, there’s your first problem, no wonder your infrastructure is crumbling. This has been a good talk Phil, hope to see you at the family potluck, bye now.”

Unfortunately it wasn’t that easy, but Tony still managed to get the agent to leave. Phil warned him about what he was getting into— watching over a Soviet assassin’s baby, who may or may not have various other people looking her, blah blah blah— and Tony waved at him as the elevator doors closed.

  
——————

Tony did his best to get in contact with Steve or Natasha but was having no luck. They were completely off the grid.

It was almost a week later when Tony finally made contact, and it wasn’t even his doing. It was mid afternoon when he received a text from an unknown number: _Its N, S and I will be at AH tonight. S will pretend to be fine, don’t believe him._

As an extra precaution, the message was in French, and it didn't spell out any names, including the name of the tower; AH stood for Avengers Headquarters. Natasha had probably asked to borrow someone’s phone from off the streets to notify them.

Pepper was gone that night so Tony was left to get ready on his own. He fed and changed Nikolai then cleaned the kitchen and prepared food, nibbling on some of it. He got out the first aid kit, washing his hands and wondering if he would need to give Steve stitches. Probably not; Natasha would have done that already.

By seven thirty, there was still no sign of them, and by eight, Tony decided to put Nikolai to bed.

“Jarvis,” he commanded. “When Nat and Steve get here, don't let them know about Nikolai.”

“Are you planning on keeping her a secret?” Jarvis asked, his tone non-judgmental.

“Just for a little while,” Tony decided, trying to keep his tone vague. “I don’t know what shape they're in.”

They didn't get back until almost midnight. The elevator dinged and Tony jumped up, striding over to meet them.

In retrospect, Steve didn't look too bad. There was some dried blood on the corner of his forehead, his lip was bloodied, and his Captain America suit was filthy, but besides that he had the same determined expression as always.

Natasha followed behind him, looking worried but keeping her expression under control. She was worse for wear as well but hid it just as well, if not better, than Steve did.

“Hey! I was getting ready to rent out your rooms, didn’t know where you went.” Tony hugged them both quickly, immediately noticing the stiffness in Steve’s posture. “You don’t have to tell me everything, but what country were you in? My guess was France, lots of shady stuff going on down there.”

Steve made a beeline for the food that was set out and, while Natasha stayed put, her eyes trailing to the counter hungrily. “We were in the Ukraine.”

“Well golly gee, I was there just last week! We could’ve carpooled.”

Steve pulled out a chair, immediately reaching for some of the grilled chicken that was set out. Tony had made sure to have foods with lots of protein for them to refuel.

Tony walked over, sitting next to Steve. “How’d it go? You holding up alright?”

“I’m fine,” Steve said immediately. “Thanks for the food. Could you pass the broccoli?”

Tony did, still watching Steve. “What was the mission for?”

“There was a Hydra base,” Natasha explained, cutting her chicken into small pieces. “They had gotten ahold of some bombs. Atomic bombs, actually. It was… really fun.”

“Really fun,” Steve agreed, his voice flat. “But we subdued them.”

“Awfully nice of you two. It’d be so inconvenient for me to die.” Tony sighed dramatically, playing with a fork.

“And on a Thursday too,” Natasha added wistfully. “If you have to go out you at least want it to be on a Saturday or something.”

“See? Romanoff knows what’s up.”

Steve ate, continued to refuse help, put his plate in the sink and then made a beeline for the elevator. As soon as the door closed Natasha turned to Tony, fixing him with her Agent Romanoff stare. “Where’s the baby?”

“What baby?”

Natasha sat back, observing Tony. “There’s a can of baby food in the trash.”

“That’s mine,” he defended immediately. Natasha crossed her arms and he added “It's better than you might think.”

“Who’s kid is it?”

“Believe it or not, it’s _Bucky Barnes_ ’;The Winter Soldier himself.”

Natasha stared at him like he’d just told her it was the abominable snowman’s kid. “How does that happen? Have you seen him lately?”

Tony shook his head, glancing to the elevator to make sure Steve really had left. “I was actually going to ask Steve if he knew where Barnes is.” Tony explained the situation to Natasha, telling her the story of the night he'd received Nikolai from the woman.

Natasha seemed to be deep in thought. “Steve doesn’t know where Bucky is,” she admitted finally. “He thought that he might be at the base in Ukraine, that’s the real reason we went, it was just coincidence that they wanted to blow up North America. Steve’s worried that Hydra recaptured Bucky. The last time they saw each other…” she trailed off, shrugging. “Bucky had pulled him out of the water then just left, but we don’t know if he went into hiding or went back to Hydra.”

Tony leaned forwards. “Do you still not know?”

“He’s not in the Hydra database,” Natasha explained. “The last update on him was from the mission with Pierce. Tomorrow I was going to check SHIELD—”

“Don’t bother,” Tony interrupted. “I already checked, it’s the same story.” Natasha looked like she was going to say something but Tony cut her off before she could. “Nat, it’s late, and you just got back. We can talk more tomorrow.”

Natasha raised her eyebrows. “You… are telling _me_ … to go to bed?”

“Blame Pepper, her responsibility is rubbing off on me.”

——————

Tony woke up at eight the next morning, pulling on a shirt as he talked. “It’s going to be a good day, Bird, a really good day. The new arc reactor is almost done, and then we have that doctor’s appointment. Maybe they’ll tell us how old you actually are, so I can get more specific search results on the mommy websites!” Tony went over to the crib, starting to say “Niko—” when he stopped. The crib was empty.

It was his worst fear. Tony hurried out of the room, his mind already dancing with images of SHIELD Special Ops agents, or worse, HYDRA. An old enemy of Barnes’ trying to get back at him through his baby, except Bucky didn’t know about his baby, he didn’t care, but _Tony_ , Tony was another story.

However, when Tony came into the living room, there were no agents, SHIELD or otherwise. Actually, that wasn’t quite true.

“Nat,” Tony said, exhaling a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “You don’t just take someone’s baby without telling them.”

Natasha was holding Nikolai close to her body, one arm supporting her weight and the other hand supporting her head. She rocked the baby gently, soothingly. Natasha’s eyes locked on Tony. “You took her from Bucky without telling him.”

“I was _given_ her. That’s very different.”

Natasha shrugged. “I wanted to point out the flaw in that sentence, but you were sleeping. What’s her name?”

Tony stuffed his hands in his pockets. An image of Natasha snapping an enemy agent’s neck flashed through his mind. Natasha continued rocking Nikolai, her hand on the back of her neck gently. The difference between the two images gave him vertigo. “This is Nikolai.”

“Nikolai is a boys name.”

“Yeah, well I didn’t name her, her crazy aunt-or-whatever named her. Also, is that a gun strapped to your waist? Because I’ve been trying to keep deadly weapons away from the baby lately, if you don’t mind.”

Natasha kept looking at him, not touching her gun. “I have a feeling she’s going to be around plenty of guns in her life, given who her father is.” Her eyes darted behind Tony and too late, he realized where she was looking.

“Yeah? Who’s that?” Steve asked, sliding past Tony. “Morning Tony.”

“Mm, morning. Sleep well?” _Stupid super soldier. How dare he already be awake._

“Just fine. Who’s the kid’s dad?”

“It’s weird to call her a kid,” Tony rambled, “because for some reason when I hear ‘kid’ I think ‘baby goat’, is that weird? But it is kind of endearing. Hey goat, goatie… no, even better, sheepie, lambie! Come here lambie.” He went over to Natasha, gently taking Nicky from her arms, the familiar warmth and weight reassuring. “Lambie, yeah, that’s a nice nickname. Baaaaaaa.”

Natasha rolled her eyes. Steve just stood and looked confused. “Is she your kid?”

“Baaaaaa.”

“Tony.”

“Nope, not my genes. She’s actually the spawn of a friend of yours, I think, dunno if you remember him… Bucky Barnes? The Winter Soldier, metal arm, that guy.” Steve slowly walked over to the couch, sitting down. “She doesn’t have a metal arm, in case you’re wondering. I checked.”

Natasha sat down on the couch beside Steve, putting a hand on his soldier. “How old is she?” Steve muttered, his expression twisted with pain.

“I’m thinking five, maybe six months. I don’t know for sure.”

“That can’t be right,” Steve muttered. “One year and three months ago, Bucky was still under HYDRA’s control.”  
  
A sick feeling spread up Tony’s chest. His mouth tasted like metal. “Ah.”

Nikolai made some sort of noise, like a word but without any meaning. Steve stared up at her sadly. “What’s her name?”

“Nikolai. Sometimes I call her Nicky.”

“Can I hold her?”

Tony carefully shifted Nicky over. Steve held her easily and for a moment Tony wondered where he learned how to hold a baby. He imagined Steve sitting in a classroom, looking at a board that read ‘Shaking Hands and Kissing Babies 101.’

“Hey Sweetie,” Steve said quietly. “Such a sweet little girl. Nikolai, that’s a nice name. Nikolai.”

Nikolai loved Steve even more than she liked Natasha or Tony. She reached up, grabbing onto Steve’s face with her chubby baby hands.

“Look at those eyes.” Steve was smiling now, though Tony wasn’t sure the last time he’d seen him in so much pain. “So big and blue! Aw, such a cutie.”

——————

Nikolai was down for her afternoon nap when it happened.

There was a maid cleaning the living room bathroom that Tony had never seen before, which wasn’t strange— those maids were constantly changing. But the problem was, she didn’t just stick to the bathroom.

Tony had been in the kitchen when he heard the gunshot. He dropped the plate he’d been holding, frozen for half a second before he was throwing himself over the kitchen counter, sprinting and summoning the armor at the same time as another gunshot rang out from his room.

His room, where the crib was currently set up.

His iron man gauntlet hit his hand, clicking into place right as he slammed the door open and before he could even process what was happening, his hand was raised, the gauntlet whirring and ready to fire. Nikolai was crying, loud horrible baby crying. On the floor were two figures: the maid, and Steve.

“God dammit,” Steve muttered, one hand gripping tightly onto his thigh. “Two days in a row?”

The maid was unconscious, or dead, Tony didn’t know and he wasn’t sure if he cared. Tony rushed over to the crib, his gauntlet undoing itself and falling on the floor around him.

Nikolai stopped crying quite as loud when Tony picked her up, cradling her and cooing randomness at her, the words not even reaching his brain before exiting his mouth.

It was only when he saw that she was okay that Tony trying to make sense out of his words again. “I heard two gunshots—”

“I was shot and then I shot her,” Steve explained, gesturing to the maid on the floor. Steve tried to pull himself to his feet with little luck. “I saw her come in here and followed her, I don’t think she did anything.”

Tony tried to rock Nikolai to make her stop crying, but it didn’t do much. “She’s crying, why is she crying?”

“It was loud,” Steve explained. “I think she’s just scared.”

Tony gave up on rocking and just pulled Nicky to his chest, hugging her close. He turned so Steve couldn’t see him, swallowing and trying to breath again before talking again. “Jarvis? Run lockdown A-2 protocol. Active until further protocol.”

Jarvis responded, but Tony didn’t hear. Nikolai sniffled, finally quieting. “I’m sorry Nicky, I’m so sorry. It’s not going to happen again.”

————————-

Natasha went with Tony to the doctor’s appointment. “Do you want to make a bet about the press getting a photo of this?” Natasha asked, bouncing Nikolai on her knee. “I'll bet fifty.”

“Nah, I'm sure they'll get a photo. The question is what they come up with. I'll bet fifty that they say it’s my kid.”

“Then I'll bet fifty that they say it's my kid,” Natasha said, smiling down at Nikolai. “And we both agree that someone will think that we’re a couple?”

“Without a doubt.”

“Glad we’re on the same page.”

Natasha was wearing a gray hoodie, her hair down. She looked like a different person than the Black Widow, but Tony supposed that was part of the genius of it. People who’d heard of her would see her and immediately write her off as a girl, not an agent.

And, in a way they were right. Natasha wasn’t an agent; she was much, much more. Agents strived to get to her level.

When they were called to the examination room, Tony stuffed his hands in his pockets, trying not to stare at Nikolai the entire time. Natasha was carrying her so that if the press did find them— which they always did— they could use the excuse that Natasha was taking her friend's daughter to the doctor’s as a favor. It was better that Natasha did that: as uncomfortable as it was to say, people cared about Natasha as an Avenger significantly less than they cried about Tony or Steve. Tony and Steve were the ones the press loved, then came Thor and Bruce, and then Natasha and Clint. They were harder to market, their powers more subtle, less theatrical. Plus, there was the whole gender thing: if people saw Tony taking care of a friend’s baby, they would be talking about it far longer than they would have a right to, saying how he was such a good man, etc etc. If Natasha was seen doing the same thing, people would brush it off, because of course she’d help out a friend, she’s a girl. She wouldn’t be a saint, she’d be doing what was expected of her. Tony was counting on the sexism of the public to leave him and Nikolai alone.

In truth, he hadn’t brought Natasha along for the sake of the press, he’d brought her along because any threat that he might catch, she’d see it five times faster. If there was a threat, any threat, she would see it and know what to do.

Truly the most underrated avenger. Besides, perhaps, Clint, but that’s only because most people didn’t realize that Clint _was_ an Avenger.

Luckily, the appointment went well. It was a bit difficult since Tony didn’t know Nikolai’s age, but the doctor was able to say she was ‘pretty sure’ Nicky was healthy and growing at the right rate. Tony didn't allow her to draw any blood or give Nicky any shots, and though the doctor protested, Tony stood firm. He didn’t know about Nicky’s mom, but he was ‘pretty sure’ that her dad had super serum coursing through his blood, meaning there was a decent chance she did too. Ergo, it was not a good time to have strangers take blood samples.

——————

No one knew where the Winter Soldier was. He’d disappeared off the face of the Earth, it seemed.

Tony swallowed his pride a few days later and went to SHIELD headquarters, requesting an audience with Phil Coulson. He waited in the empty conference for Phil to come in, looking a little out of breath but no more freaked out than normal. “Tony, good to see you. You said there are two headed aliens on their way to destroy New York?”

Tony looked at him, raising his eyebrows. “Hmm? Oh, no, that’s just a lie I told the P.A. to get you to move faster. Still took too long, people take too long. You need to get a Jarvis.”

“And we’d gladly take one, if you would share the technology with us.”

Tony smiled, holding onto the armrests of his office chair. “I’m here to talk about the Winter Soldier. I need to find him.”

“I already told you, we’ll take the baby,” Phil explained. “This isn’t your job Tony.”

“Did you say something about a baby? Did _I_ say something about a baby?” Tony made a face like he was trying to remember. “No, I don’t think I did. I think I was talking about the Winter Soldier, a Mister Bucky Barnes.”

“We have no recent data. I don’t know how to find him.”

“Yes, but there must be a way _to_ find him.”

Phil leaned forwards, leaning his dainty elbows on the table. “He could be at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.”

“Or he could be in Florida,” Tony argued. “I’m not saying we have to find him, I’m saying we have to try.”

Phil stared at him for a few moments, sizing him up. “Tony… I don’t know what I can do. I’ll alert SHIELD intelligence, send out a privatized manhunt among some ally powers, but… I don’t know Tony. He doesn’t want to be found, and I don’t know if we want to find him. I also don’t know if, under the circumstance that he is found, we want to give him a _baby_.”

Tony stared back at Phil, nodding slowly. “Good. You’ll search. Let me know if you find anything— _anything_ — and I’ll fly over and check it out.” Tony stood, heading to the door. “As always, it’s been nice seeing you, Phil.”

“You too Tony, it’s always a pleasure.”

—————————-

  
It had been weeks, and still, no sign.

The Winter Soldier had truly dropped off the face of the Earth.

They kept looking, but it seemed less and less likely as time went on. James Buchanan Barnes was living in a remote tribe somewhere, or was hiding out in some random country like Romania, or had been found and killed by Hydra. Maybe he was still alive and had gone completely crazy. Tony had read his records, he knew what Hydra had done to him. After all that, no one would blame him for going off the deep end. Or, maybe he was still an assassin. It didn’t matter: Tony had a very low tolerance for absent fathers.

Tony continued to take care of Nicky, with integral help from Pepper, Natasha and Steve. Besides Tony, Steve was the one who did the most for Nicky. Some nights they moved the crib into his room, especially when Nicky started getting bad teething pains and would wake up in the middle of night more often. Waking up multiple times a night was more of a problem young babies experienced— sorry random Russian lady— but it still wasn’t uncommon in ones Nicky’s age.

Nicky was healthy, going through one milestone after another. She was beginning to respond to her name and starting to babble more. Sometimes when Tony was in his workshop he’d talk to her about what he was doing and she’d respond to him in a series of grunts and random syllables and Tony would go “Hmm, interesting suggestion. Jarvis, what do you think?”

Nicki still got excited by Jarvis. Her big blue eyes would widen and she’d look around, smiling, and Tony would worry about cavities from the sweetness of it.

She sat up on her own, started crawling, and pulled herself to a standing position, though she still couldn’t walk. She said her first word: “Nat-uh!”

Of course Tony joked that she’d actually said ‘Santa’, but everyone happily ignored him.

It was one of the nights that the crib was in Tony’s room that he was putting her to bed when he ran his fingers through her thin, wispy hair, muttering “It’s getting darker. What do you think, do you want to grow it out? Have long, flowing brown hair just like your daddy? I mean, if you want.”

It was silly talk: Nikolai’s hair was still so short and thin that it was hardly worth noting at all.

Tony went to sleep thinking about preschool and four year olds building circuit boards.

He didn’t know why he woke up a few hours later; there had been no sounds, not from Nikolai, nor from the figure standing over her crib. Yet Tony woke, sat up, and froze.

The figure picked Nikolai up, rocking her gently. Tony stared at him, his mind screaming for him to call over the Iron Man gauntlet, but his body frozen.

The figure turned around slowly. When he saw Tony was awake he didn’t panic, instead smiled in a small, slightly painful way. Nikolai remained asleep, curled up in the man’s arms. Slowly, he lifted a single, metal finger to his lips, gesturing for Tony to be quiet. “Shh. She’s sleeping.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

It was impossible to go back to sleep after that. Tony had a rather annoying sense of self-preservation, and rolling over and going back to bed when there was an assassin in his room, hold _his baby_ , was not an option.

In the Winter Soldier’s arms the baby whined, cuddling a little closer to his chest, still asleep. Barnes rocked her gently, muttering something soft in Russian. He watched her with a strange sort of interest, like he was trying to catalog her features in his mind. Tony stared at him, still not sure if he should let it happen or call over the Iron Man suit. But he was holding Nicky, and she was sleeping and it had taken so long for her to fall asleep…

“What’s her name?” Barnes asked quietly, eyes still trained on the baby clutched close to his chest.

Tony stared at him, his mind a whirling mess of _who the fuck do you think you are_ and _Steve has been searching for you, where the hell--_ and _don’t you dare hurt her or I will personally—_

“Her name’s Nikolai.”

“Nicky,” Bucky hummed affectionately. His lips twitched upwards, and with a start Tony realized he was _smiling_. “ сладкий горох. ”

Tony continued to stare at him. “I know about you… know about what you’ve done. I know _all_ your secrets.”

Barnes glanced up at him, smirking like he thought the idea was cute. He was wearing jeans and a jacket, a baseball cap holding his hair away from his face. The outfit didn’t suggest danger, but the look on his face, the darkness of his eyes, did.

“You know who she is, don’t you?” Tony challenged. He was still wearing a T-shirt and his boxers. Normally he preferred to be wearing a nice suit when interrogating someone, but he supposed he’d have to make an exception. “She’s your daughter.”

Bucky muttered something else in Russian, too low and too fast for Tony to catch it all, but he was pretty sure he heard the word ‘sweetie’.

“You do speak English, don’t you?” Tony snapped, trying to get a reaction, any reaction. “Or did Hydra fuck with that part of your brain too? Oops, sorry, sensitive topic.”

Bucky glared at him, still rocking Nikolai easily. “I know who she is. You can go back to sleep, I’ll let myself out.” He nodded to the window, then looked back to his daughter, turning away from Tony as he rocked her. His movements were all precise and exact, all intentional and yet still… easy. He looked like he could kill someone just as easily as he could rock his baby, murmuring to her in low Russian.

“I’m not going back to sleep,” Tony insisted.

Barnes shrugged. “You have meetings in the morning. But if you want to be tired for them, be my guest.”

It was the longest thing he’d said so far. Tony blinked at him. “You’ve been stalking me.”

“Mmm. You have my baby.”

“How long have you been watching me for?”

Bucky glanced up, thinking as he continued cradling Nikolai. “A few days.”

“A few days,” Tony repeated. He waited for Bucky to say something else but he didn’t, not one to ramble. Tony couldn’t relate. “And how exactly did you find out about her?”

Barnes smiled down at his daughter, who clung to his jacket even in his sleep. “Listen closely Stark. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but I'd prefer the easy way. I don’t want to wake the baby.”

\------------

Tony left his room the next morning empty-handed. He’d managed to crawl out of bed, run a hand through his hair, and glance at the empty crib, staring at it for a lot longer than he should have. Then he shuffled out of his room, still wearing the t-shirt and boxers he’d slept in.

“Tony,” Nat observed. “You look like shit.”

“You flatter me,” Tony said emotionlessly. “Rogers, coffee, pronto. I don’t pay you to just stand around and look pretty.”

“He does do a good job though,” Natasha observed boredly.

“There’s coffee in the pot,” Steve announced in what was almost a professional tone. He was sitting at the table, his back to Tony.

“And you don’t pay him,” Clint added helpfully from where he was perched on the refrigerator, breakfast burrito in hand.

Tony went into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee, ignoring Clint until he’d had a few sips, then staring at him blandly. “And when exactly did you get here?”

“Exactly? I dunno, Jar’, whadda you think?”

“Pigeon-eye entered Stark Towers at approximately 5:35 this morning,” Jarvis replied obediently.

“Mm-hmm. And why exactly?”

Clint slid off of the refrigerator easily, walking past Tony. “Well, to be with my girlfriend of course.” He smiled at Natasha then went to the table where Steve was sitting, kissing his cheek. “Morning Sweetie."

“What.” Tony said without emotion.

“Hmm?” Steve looked around, looking a little flustered but apparently unbothered. He shrugged, going back to feeding Nikolai.

Tony walked over to him slowly, making sure he wasn’t seeing things. “Hey Steve. You’ve got… my baby there.”

“Yeah, you weren’t up yet and it was time for her feeding. Is something wrong? You look kinda… sick.”

“No, no, I’m fine. I’m… dandy.” Tony glanced around, checking the shadows for any hidden super soldiers. “It’s just us, right?”

Steve frowned. “I think so. I’m not sure if Pepper’s around, or…”

Tony shook his head, then shrugged, then shook his head again, his motions twitchy and unnatural. “Yeah, yeah, good. I’ll just… take Nikolai for now, didn’t get to say good morning yet. Hey sweetie, little lamb, baaaa.” He scooped up Nikolai, ignoring Steve’s slight protests. As soon as the bottle left her mouth Nikolai made a face, pouting and whining for it.

“Be warned, she’s been really fussy this morning,” Steve said, watching Tony carefully. “We asked Jarvis and he thinks she’s teething.”

“Poor baby,” Tony hummed, giving her back her bottle. “Jarvis, order a few new toys for her, okay? A… stuffed animal and one of those toys meant for babies to chew on, the ones they talk about on the mommy websites.”

“They are on their way. Is there anything else—”

“Nah, that’s good J.” Tony pulled out his phone, carefully holding Nikolai with one hand and texting with the other.

 

**To: Jarvis**

**How did B get in last night??**

 

“I’ll take her,” Steve said, carefully disentangling Nikolai from Tony’s arms. Tony pressed his thumb against a panel on the back, making the screen go black for a moment. He waited until Steve had moved away to move his thumb, letting the screen light up again.

 

**To: Tony**

**I am afraid he bypassed our security. Should I implement lockdown A-3 protocol?**

**To: Jarvis**

**Not yet**

**Notify me immediately if it’s breached again**

**To: Tony**

**Right away sir**

**And I would like to apologize for allowing the breach to happen**

 

“No need buddy, happens to the best of us,” Tony muttered, knowing Jarvis could hear him. “Well great, I’m going to go to the workshop, have fun not having jobs and living in my house. Steve, toss her.” 

Steve handed him the baby and Tony immediately started cooing at Nikolai. “Hey Birdie, aww, don’t cry. Do your teeth hurt? Don't worry, I'll get a socket wrench for you to chew on.”

Steve looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn't say anything as Tony carried Nikolai with him to the elevator, saluting Steve before the door closed.

\---------------

Tony was woken up three times that night by Nikolai’s crying. Each time he groaned, dragging himself out of bed and making comments about how she deserved her own room and asking Jarvis to make her stop. “I'm up, I'm up, you can turn off the alarm now,” he quipped. “Jeez, does this kid have a snooze button?”

The third time he was awoken he groaned, rolling over to cover his face in his pillow before wiggling upwards into a sitting position, glaring at the wall before dramatically tumbling off the bed and onto the floor. “Jarvis, Nikolai is sleeping in Rogers’ room tonight, make a note of it.” Tony used the bedsheets to pull himself up, stumbling slightly before regaining his balance. That was when he realized he was not alone. “Ah. You must be the wet nurse.”

Bucky Barnes-- or maybe it was the Winter Soldier-- glared at Tony. He was already holding Nikolai in his arms and her cries had quieted down but she still whined, upset despite being held. “What's wrong with her?” Barnes muttered, his soft gaze turning to stone when he looked at Tony.

Tony felt his own gaze harden. He tried to stand a bit taller, feigning strength. “Absolutely nothing.”

“She’s crying.”

“She’s teething,” Tony said, glancing around the room. “She needs something to chew on, I have a toy around here somewhere…”

Bucky seemed to consider for a moment before adjusting Nikolai so he could hold her with one arm, then bringing up his left hand for her. She immediately grabbed his metal fingers in her tiny fists, gnawing on one of them.

Tony stared at her. “She stopped crying,” Bucky pointed out calmly.

“Mm-hmm. Jarvis?”

“Master Tony, I would like to inform you that there has been a security breach on sector 7--"

“Yes Jarvis, I noticed.” Bucky and Nikolai both looked up, trying to find the source of the sound. Tony turned to him. “How exactly are you getting in? I thought you were from the 1940s, how can you hack through my security? Steve still doesn't know how to facetime.”

Bucky’s expression shifted almost microscopically at the mention of Steve’s name. He didn't respond to Tony’s question, instead looking back at his daughter who was still gnawing on the knuckle of one of his metal fingers.

“Hey, I need to know. I don’t know if you've noticed, but there's currently a baby living in this building with multiple people after her, and I need to make sure they can’t get in and take her.”

“There are people after her?” Bucky muttered to Nikolai.

“Yes. I don’t even know how many--"

“How do they know about her?” He looked at Tony again, his stare accusatory.

“I don’t know, how did you find out about her?”

Bucky’s expression darkened. “We have to leave.”

“Leave? Leave where? No way in the hell are you taking my kid--"

“Your kid?”

Tony swallowed, forcing himself to stand his ground. Barnes was, in a way, terrifying. Yes, he was an assassin, and yes, Tony spent most of his time around other assassins, but that was different. Not only did Clint and Natasha’s kill counts look measly in comparison to the Winter Soldier’s, but they also were, for the most part, in control of their actions. The Winter Soldier had killing embedded inside him, and even if Tony was vaguely sure it was Barnes standing before him, parts of the Winter Soldier were still there. And right now, Tony was pretty sure both of them were angry with him. “I didn't say that,” Tony said carefully. “I said ‘the kid’.”

Barnes narrowed his eyes, about to say something else when Nikolai started coughing, her little body trembling with the puffs. Bucky pulled his hand away but she kept coughing.

“Give her here,” Tony said, stepping forwards and taking her out of his arms quickly, hoping that the Winter Soldier didn't strangle him. Tony positioned Nikolai so she was over his shoulder and patted her back, letting her cough it out. “It’s not comfortable for her to cough lying down,” he explained as her coughs died down. “See?”

Bucky watched him carefully. “She’s not your daughter.”

Tony forced himself to look away, holding onto Nikolai tightly. She was incredibly warm in his arms and against his chest and she smelled like baby formula and something else, the clean scent of baby lotion. She smelled like _Nikolai._ “I know,” Tony said quietly.

He still didn't look at Barnes as he said the next thing. “Who knows I'm here?”

“No one. Me. Jarvis. Nicky.”

“Steve?”

Tony shook his head. “He’s been looking for you, you know. Almost blew himself up in Ukraine last week.”

“I know. I made sure he didn't.”

“You should talk to him,” Tony said, though at the moment he didn’t really care. “Steve deserves to know that you're okay.”

Bucky just looked at him. His expression, as empty as it was, was clear: _am I?_

“I have some old hydra gear,” Bucky admitted quietly. He pulled out a small circular device and set it on the bed. “It can be used to disable security measures. This is a prototype. Upgrade your security Stark, especially if my baby is staying here.”

Tony looked at him. “She’s staying here?”

“For now." Bucky looked around the room, as if looking for bugs. He wouldn't find any; all of the cameras were built directly into the walls, virtually undetectable. “I want daytime access. I want your security to let me in automatically. And I don’t want anyone finding out.”

“Deal,” Tony said automatically, even though some of the terms were worthy of questioning and Tony had grown up being taught to always haggle for more. “I have guest rooms. You could--"

“I'm fine,” Bucky said immediately. “I have it under control.”

“You're wearing the same clothes as you were last night,” Tony noted, because he didn't know how to shut up. It was true too: jacket, jeans, and a baseball cap-- was that the New York Yankees logo? He didn't have any visible weapons on him, but again Tony referred back to his knowledge on Natasha and decided that Bucky probably had something hidden.

He glanced at Barnes’ left hand, the metal one. He moved his fingers a little subconsciously, and Tony knew immediately that the craftsmanship must be remarkable.

“Jarvis?” Tony muttered, “do we have any unused StarkPhones laying around?”

“There is one in your left bedside drawer, Master Tony; however, it appears to be an old generation.”

“Perfect, they’ll match.” Tony slowly walked over to his nightstand, keeping an eye on Barnes as much as he could. If he weren't holding Nikolai, Tony may have held his hands up. He plucked the phone from the drawer and tossed it to Barnes, who could it easily. “My phone numbers in there. I think that one was meant for Steve, but he ended up liking a different model better. I have to keep the phone set on ‘easy mode’, but I'm sure you know all about that.” Bucky didn’t respond. “Text me,” Tony said, surprised by the calm of his voice. “I'll let you know if it’s a good time or not. That’ll help with keeping the others from finding you.”

Bucky slid the phone into his pocket, stalking towards Tony and reminding him of his very unfortunate will to live. “This better not be a trap,” he growled, almost directly in Tony’s ear. “Because if it is, I will escape, and I will take Nikolai with me. Got it?”

Tony nodded barely, and suddenly that warmth was taken away as the Winter Soldier pulled Nikolai away, holding her close and mumbling soothing Russian until she fell back asleep, her head rested on his chest.

\------------

“You should know I feel awfully like a prisoner in this situation,” Tony commented, casually looking up from his project. “And I'm not a big fan of being a prisoner.”

Bucky made a beeline for where Nikolai was having tummy time on the carpet. “Have you ever been a prisoner before?”

Tony looked at him, checking if he was joking. He apparently wasn’t. “Yeah. There was this whole ordeal in Afghanistan a few years back.”

Bucky hummed something but didn't respond. He scooped up Nicky and set her on his lap. She immediately grabbed at his hand, gnawing on one metal finger.

“I brought her to see a doctor, by the way. She's perfectly healthy.”

“Amazing.” Bucky continued playing with Nicky, grabbing a rabbit toy and showing it to her. The assassin made funny faces, and the baby laughed.

“I don’t mean to press or anything,” Tony started. “Actually, I don’t know if I care. The mom-- what's her deal? Did she have super serum too?”

Bucky pulled out a knife from his pocket, flicked it open, and used it to scratch his back. “Maybe, but I doubt it. I wasn’t really one of the people in charge of Hydra.”

Tony flicked on his phone, sending Jarvis a quick text. Jarvis replied with a diagram showing all of the weapons currently hidden on Bucky’s person: three knives and a handgun. The arm was also highlighted in the diagram, and Tony wondered if there was any room in it for a small missile or something of the like. He sent Jarvis instructions to scan the arm in as much depth as possible.

 

**From: Jarvis**

**My sensors are having trouble scanning it in depth with his jacket on, sir. Perhaps if you could convince him to take it off?**

**From: Tony**

**Got it**

**Turn the temperature up pls, as high as it needs to go.**

 

At one of the workbenches Dum-E clicked happily, quietly driving over and retrieving the fire extinguisher. 

“You have robots,” Bucky observed.

“Hmm? Yeah, that's Dum-E, that stunner over there is U--"

“Who?” 

“U, like the letter. And that's Butterfingers.”

Bucky nodded, looking a little uncomfortable with the idea but not overly surprised, like if he could adjust to smartphones he could adjust to anything. “And the other one? The…” Bucky gestured around the room, “voice?”

“That's Jarvis. Say hi, Jarvis.”

“Hello, Sergeant Barnes. Is there a specific name you would like me to call you?”

“I prefer ‘The Winter Soldier’,” Bucky said, his voice gruff. “Its the name I most identify with.”

Tony’s grip on his phone tightened, and he scanned Nikolai quickly, making sure she was okay. She was chewing on Barnes’ metal finger again, still sitting in his lap.

“‘The Winter Soldier’ has been added to my database. Is there anything I can get for you?”

“I'm fine.”

“Wonderful. Please let me know if I can be of service to you.”

Tony messed with the wires of the control panel he was working with, picking up and setting down his soldering iron nervously. He almost dropped it when he was hit about 40 miles per hour by a squeaky rabbit toy. “Hey,” Bucky snapped, “I was joking. That's something we used to do a lot in the 1940’s, I don't know if anyone ever taught you what I joke is.”

“I know what a joke is,” Tony defended, carefully putting the soldering iron down. “I just… didn't think you did that."

“No, you just thought I was a murderer,” Bucky corrected. “And you're letting me hold a baby.”

Tony huffed. “Listen here. No one knows where you've been or how you’ve been doing--”

“Good,” Bucky interrupted. “It’s none of their goddamn business.”

“No one even knew if you were still under Hydra’s control or not! I was given this baby and told to find you, and all the records I could find were depicting you as a cold-blooded killer.”

Bucky set his jaw, scowling. He looked down at Nikolai and Tony looked back down at his project, forcing himself to focus on the wires again.

He almost jumped out of his skin when the stuffed turtle hit him directly in the face. Nikolai giggled excitedly. “Hey, fuck you. That was just my day job.”

“I can't believe I'm having this conversation,” Tony said under his breath. “I must be hallucinating.”

“On the contrary Master Stark, your blood toxicity levels are quite healthy,” Jarvis said, sounding almost too happy. “This is all very real.”

“I'm going to die, aren't I?”

Nikolai made a happy squealing noise and Bucky broke into a smile, tickling her sides and saying something in fast Russian that, if Tony wasn't wrong, translated to “Who's my little baby girl, who's my little baby girl, you are, yes you are yes you are!”

Tony stared at it for a moment- the highly trained assassin sitting criss-cross with his baby on Tony’s rug, tickling her and smiling. Then Tony said: “Dum-E? Get me a cup of coffee, will you?”

Dum-E happily whirred over, driving slowly past Bucky and Nikolai. Nicky pointed and made some sort of noise and Bucky pointed and hummed in agreement, “yeah, look at the robot. Say ‘hi, dummy’.”

Nikolai made another grunting noise and Bucky beamed, praising her and then tickling her again.

“Jarvis?” Tony said, partially just to have something to do, something to say. “Don’t call him the Winter Soldier, apparently grandpa was just joking. Instead call him…” he waited for Barnes to finish the sentence.

“Barnes...” Bucky said carefully. “Don’t… wear it out.”

He moved his arm and his hand caught in the light, reminding Tony about his mission to get Bucky’s jacket off so Jarvis could scan his arm. He was about to say something when Jarvis spoke up urgently. “Captain Rogers is on his way to the workshop. If you would like, I could instigate privacy measure 154--"

“No time, Bucky just--"

“Tony,” Steve yelled, barreling into the workshop, only stopping for the briefest moment to type in his security password. “I need to talk to you, it’s about-- what the hell?”

Tony could feel his heart rate speed up. Fifty different excuses began to half-form in his mind as to what Bucky was doing in his workshop when Steve walked over, looking at the small fire on Tony’s workbench. “This is on fire,” he noted. “Is it supposed to be?”

It turned out Tony really hadn't put the soldering iron back where it belonged, resulting in a small pile of burning steel wool. “Yes, that was supposed to be on fire,” Tony decided. “I'll just… put that out.” He tried to pat it out quickly with his hand, which wasn't a great idea. Dum-E screeched and whirred over as fast as he could go, shoving Steve back with his metal claw and throwing the coffee onto the fire. The fire went out and Dum-E squeaked and clicked in pride. “Good job,” Tony said in a monotone, glancing behind him quickly. Nikolai sat on the rug by herself, playing with a toy and hitting it against the ground happily. “Go reward yourself with catch with Butterfingers, that’s always a good time,” Tony said, addressing Dum-E. “Steve, what's up?”

“We have a lead. Agent Coulson got a call about a possible Winter Soldier sighting near Moscow, Nat and I want to leave tonight--”

“I don't know, sounds a little on the nose to me,” Tony interrupted. “I mean, Moscow? Like yeah, he speaks Russian, but the capital of Russia? Kind of obvious to me, it sounds like a trap.”

Steve gave him a confused look. “You think he speaks Russian?”

“It was in his file,” Tony covered quickly. “And also, Hydra is kind of a Russian thing, isn't it?”

Steve kept staring at him. He and Bucky had that in common, they both stared when someone said something weird. Steve’s look was more of a _what?_ and Bucky’s was more of a _are you actually stupid?_ but they both definitely had a look. “I always associated it more with Nazi Germany,” Steve decided. “But that's not the point. It’s a lead Tony, we have to take it.”

Tony shrugged. “Sure. Maybe. I don’t know. If you want to.”

Steve gave him the look again, and they ended up agreeing that Steve and Natasha could use a quinjet to fly to Moscow that night. Steve left and Tony rubbed his temples, complaining under his breath. “It’s safe,” he called out tiredly.

A few moments later one of the ceiling tiles shifted out of place and Bucky poked his head down, confirming that it was safe before dropping out of the ceiling and landing silently on his haunches next to Nikolai, who didn't care. He sat back criss-cross and pulled her onto his lap.

“You hid in the ceiling,” Tony observed. “I'm… Dum-E, could you get me more coffee?”

“Tell him not to go,” Bucky said simply. “I don’t want to follow him. It’s always a pain with the quinjets.”

“You’ve… broken into one of the quinjets before,” Tony repeated. “Great. What do you want me to tell him?”

“I would expect that you of all people would be better at coming up with excuses.”

“Thanks, my heart is warmed.” Tony tapped on the arc reactor, frowning at it. “Hmm. Okay. I'll just make something up to tell Captain America.”

“Good,” Bucky said pointedly. “Lie to him. About damn time he be taken down a few pegs.”

Tony wiped the sweat off of his forehead. He was wearing a simple t-shirt, the same as he always wore in his workshop, and still he was sweating as Jarvis continued to increase the temperature. Bucky kept his jacket on.

“It’s getting really warm in here,” Tony said obviously. “Hey Barnsey, if you give U your jacket he’ll hang it up for you.”

Bucky looked up, touching his forehead gingerly like he hadn't noticed the uncomfortable heat. “I’m fine.”

“Just take off the damn jacket,” Tony said, getting frustrated. “I have a policy. My workshop, my rules.” Tony made himself look back down at his project instead of making eye contact with the soldier. He was met, almost immediately, with a flying duck stuffed toy. “Goddamnit!”

“I'd watch yourself,” Bucky warned. “I'm running out of toys to throw.”

“Sooner or later you'll end up chucking the damn baby."

Bucky grinned, right as Tony’s phone lit up with another text from Jarvis: **My apologies, Master Tony, it appears as though Barnes has four knives on his person, not three.**

Tony grunted in response, turning his screen off and going back to his project. “Just take your jacket off, will you? I don't want you passing out from heat and crushing Nikolai.”

This seemed to convince Bucky enough and he finally took off his jacket, setting it carefully on the floor beside him. Underneath, he was wearing a long sleeve shirt.

\--------------

The security system was updated to incorporate resistance to the Hydra override device, and Tony took the opportunity to do some minor snooping. The phone that Tony had given to Bucky had a tracker on it-- _obviously_ \-- and Tony pulled up a map of it’s most recent moves. It appeared as though the phone was in Stark Towers for a few months (which was accurate, from when it was in Tony’s bedside drawer), and then it moved to a slightly different spot in Stark Towers where it remained. It moved again right before Bucky had come into the workshop, stayed there, then moved with Bucky when he left. However, it never actually left Stark Towers.

Frustrated, Tony called over his suit and stood in the middle of the room, letting the pieces slam into him and interlock together. Before they were even fully arranged Tony was ordering Jarvis to raise the window and was jumping out, free falling for a few seconds until the suit caught him and he soared skyward. He flew straight up until he was mostly concealed by cloud cover, then had Jarvis do a scan of the roof; no signs of life.

“I believe I've found something,” Jarvis announced in the Iron Man helmet. “By the northeast corner of the tower.”

Tony flew down, landing on the roof and going straight for the northeast corner. He moved aside one of the loose bricks-- a move that would have been difficult if not for the suit-- and sure enough, there was the phone. “Great. Just great. Your scanners can see through this brick but you can’t see through the guy’s jacket?”

“I couldn't see through his jacket with as much accuracy as I would have liked,” Jarvis corrected, sounding a little snarky. “Perhaps if you would give me the upgrade we were speaking about--"

“For the last time, I'm not building you a human body. That's just asking for robots to try and take over the world.”

Jarvis sounded strained. “I understand Master Stark, but I've been thinking about it. I could have a human body. I could live as a human, perhaps even have a romantic relationship. I would work as an Avenger--"

“What would you even be called?” Tony interrupted.

“I was thinking ‘Vision’.”

Tony laughed. “Maybe one of these days. But things are settling down, I don’t know if I really want to start another war. We’ve got that thing on Tuesday, you know, I'd hate to miss it…”

“You are hilarious, sir.”

Tony grinned. “I'll put that idea on the backburner. For now, we’ve got a super soldier to spy on.”

\-------------

“I'm going to be sick,” Steve muttered.

“Clint!” Tony called over his shoulder. “Bucket!”

Steve gave him a small glare. Really, he and Bucky were eerily similar in some of their mannerisms, even though Bucky’s glares tended to be darker and longer. Steve just looked tired, and admittedly, a little ill. “I’m _fine_ , I don’t need a bucket, I need a mission. He’s out there, I know he is. Even if Moscow was a fluke.”

Agent Coulson had called a few minutes prior to quickly warn Steve not to go to Moscow. Apparently, an undercover agent had sent in an anonymous report of a trap being set up to lure the Avengers in. The agent signed off the way all agents were expected to, yet it was still strange that the note had been anonymous. Coulson sent in more agents in the area to investigate but told Steve officially that the Avengers were asked not to go until further notice.

Tony was shocked to hear the new events. Mostly because he hadn't put very detailed encryptions on the note: he’d figured Coulson would be able to see that the message had arrived from Stark Tower. Tony needed to give the poor man a Ted Talk on basic firewall breaking. The point was, Steve couldn't leave the tower to go to Moscow.

That didn't mean he wasn’t miserable. “What if they have him?” Steve said, refusing to look at anyone at the table. “Maybe it's a trap. But if we don’t spring it, what will they do to him?”

“They don’t have him,” Tony said easily, rolling his eyes. “Come on, he’s smarter than that. You don’t think he’d let himself get caught _again_ , do you? Wasn't once enough… no… twice? Twice, assuming he wasn’t caught by Hydra again…” Tony trailed off, noticing too late that everyone was staring at him. “What?”

“You're being an asshole, Tony,” Clint reminded him, coming up behind him and leaning on the back of his chair.

Natasha sighed. “What's new?”

“Excuse you, whose house are you currently sitting, nay, living in? That's what I thought.”

“I have to take a quinjet,” Steve decided, staring down at the table. “I'll bring my shield and… and a gun, for Bucky, for when I rescue him. No. They'll probably have guns there, he can take one of those. Do you think they've been feeding him?” Steve looked up, his intense all American blue eyes meeting Tony’s. “Oh God, they probably haven't been. How long do you think they've had him? I'll have to bring protein bars…”

“Steven Fourth of July Rogers, shut the fuck up.”

“Hey, there's a baby present,” Clint warned, gesturing back to where Nikolai was playing by the couches.

“Man up Clint,” Tony snapped. “Steve, look at me. Bucky’s not in Russia, why the hell would he be in Russia? This is a covert fucking operative. Nat, if you wanted to disappear and never be found again, could you?”

“Easily.”

“And she’s not even properly motivated,” Tony added, pushing his chair back to stand up. Clint moved out of the way, knowing when Tony was giving one of his speeches. “This is a man who's been used like a lap dog for the past 70 years when he escaped, and you can bet your ass he did, he went directly into hiding. He dug a hole so deep that no one, and I mean no one, will be able to find him unless he wants them to. Comprende?”

Steve just stared at him. Tony hated people like him and Bucky, people who chose their words carefully and took time to process things. Steve set his jaw, and Tony knew what he was going to say a moment before he said it. So Tony didn't let him say it. “Stay here tonight,” he jumped in before Steve could make up his mind. “Talk to Coulson in the morning. Then decide if you need to bring protein bars or not.”

“Ew, he’s using reason,” Clint added helpfully. “Tony, I don’t know if you forgot, but we’re more of an ‘ask questions later’ kind of team.”

That's what did it for Steve. He sighed, deflated. “You're right Tony. I'm just… worried.”

_An understatement._

“Could Nikolai sleep in my room tonight? I don't know how much sleep I’ll be getting anyways.”

Tony agreed without hesitation. “She’s been fussier ever since she started teething. Speaking of Nicky, it's almost time to feed her next bottle, any volunteers?”

\----------

 

**To: Buckyyyyyyy Baby Daddy Barnes**

**Just so you know Nicky's sleeping in Steve's room tonight**

 

No response. 

\------------

Tony woke up to Jarvis, which was nice, as it meant he wasn’t woken up by a baby crying (as he had been multiple times the night before) or by a knife to his throat (as he had partially expected to be woken up that night).

“Jarvis, track the phone’s activity,” Tony commanded as he brushed his hair back. “Has it moved?”

“It doesn't appear so. Would you like me to open the usage history?”

“Please.”

Tony pulled on a fresh suit, buttoning up the dress shirt as he walked to the screen projected above his dresser. “Opened 1:54 am. Did he come in last night?”

“I don’t believe so. With the new security implemented he would have to be allowed in, in which case I would have a record. Would you like me to retrieve the security footage from last night?”

“Go for it.” Tony popped his collar, tucked in his shirt, and pulled on his vest, buttoning it while he watched the video.

Jarvis skipped ahead to 1:54 am, fast forwarding until there was motion. Bucky slid down the side of the building, landing smoothly on a ledge that couldn't have been more than a foot in length. He jumped down to a balcony and then walked along a narrow ledge until he was outside of Steve’s window. He kneeled, looking in.

“Switch to camera 21e,” Tony muttered. The video switched to a different angle, so Bucky was closer. Tony watched him lean in, watching carefully, his expression completely blank. Well, not completely.

Tony forced himself to wave a hand through the projection and it disappeared. “Is Nikolai up yet?”

“Yes, Clint is feeding her breakfast.”

“Great.” Tony finished getting dressed in his shoes, tie, jacket and sunglasses, and left the room, fixing everything and tucking his tie in confidently as he walked. “Morning Bird,” he said, making a beeline for the fridge.

Clint looked up. “Hmm?”

“Wrong bird.” Tony pressed a kiss to the top of Nikolai’s head as he passed, the baby responding with an excited shriek.

“Yeah,” Clint said unamused. “Tell Sam he’s not welcome back. Too many birds in one building.”

“I'll make a note,” Tony promised. He went to the refrigerator and began preparing breakfast. “You know, I always thought child rearing was so much harder than this. I don't know what everyone is complaining about.”

“Hmm,” Clint said, continuing to feed Nikolai. He was giving her solid baby food, even though they still mostly fed her formula. “I think most people are super rich. And most people don’t have three people helping them out and an extremely competent AI to tell them how to take care of the baby.”

“Clint,” Jarvis said, sounding too sincere for comfort. “I'm flattered.”

Clint made flirty finger guns at the ceiling and Tony was left to remember their conversation the previous day about Jarvis being in a relationship. _He definitely can't have a physical body now._

Tony forced the image out of his mind and shrugged. He nabbed the container with his breakfast in it, checked that he had his phone, and then strode to the elevator. “I don't know. Maybe it’ll get more difficult when she’s going through her rebellious phase.”

“Oh yeah? When was your rebellious phase?”

“You're looking at it, pal. Peace.” Tony flashed a peace sign and the elevator doors closed.

\----------------

 

**To: Tony**

**Are you in your workshop**

**To: Buckyyyyyyy Baby Daddy Barnes**

**Lol no**

**Im in a meeting rn**

**Its really annoying because they're talking to me but in the hallway there was a popcorn machine**

**I can smell it from here**

**To: Tony**

**Where is Nikolai**

**To: Buckyyyyyyy Baby Daddy Barnes**

**I think with Clint?**

**Maybe with Steve**

**Do you want me to grab you some popcorn?**

**To: Tony**

**What time does she nap at**

**To: Buckyyyyyyy Baby Daddy Barnes**

**Hmmm**

**Usually from about 1-2**

**So she'll be waking up in maybe half an hour**

Bucky didn’t respond from there. He was horrible, there was no banter quality at all.

**To: Jarvis**

**Has he texted you yet?**

**To: Tony**

**Yes, he has actually contacted me quite recently.**

**I feel rather upset, as if I were worth no more than Siri.**

**To: Jarvis**

**What’d he ask?**

**To: Tony**

**He requested I translate your meaning behind ‘rn’ and ‘lol’.**

**I'm afraid there is still much for you to teach him.**

**To: Jarvis**

**Thanks J**

**Youre the best**

 

Tony closed his phone, looking up at the people talking to him. “But it’s poisonous,” Tony interrupted. “No question about it. The asbestos needs to be removed, have it removed. I don't care if repainting it is cheaper, that does nothing to dissolve silicate minerals like that. Get it done and get it done right, honestly, do you really need me to be here for this? Next.”

 

\--------

 

The meeting was almost over, or at least Tony was almost ready for it to end. His bag of popcorn was getting close to the bottom. 

His phone buzzed in his pocket and Tony pulled it out, hidden under the table. He flicked it on, the screen automatically opening to his biometrics, and opened the new text without looking.

 

**From: Clint From Work**

**TONU**

**COME HLME NOW**

**NICKOLAY IS GON**


	3. Chapter 3

There was no time to drive, so Tony flew. 

 “Jarvis, who took her?” He barked out, even though he already knew the answer. 

 “I believe it was Barnes, sir. You did give him security clearance.”

  "What else did he take?”

 Jarvis almost seemed to hesitate. “Barnes took a small bag with diapers, wipes, and formula. He also took a baby carrier.” 

 “The one the Russian left?” 

 “Erm, no sir. A chest carrier.”

 Tony gritted his teeth, urging the suit to fly faster. “Which door did he exit? J, I need you to pull up the security footage. I need to know which way he went.”

 “Sir,” Jarvis said, still sounding too hesitant. “He didn't leave through a door.” 

 Tony cussed under his breath. “How long ago did he leave? J, why didn't you tell me?”

 “I am sorry sir. My sensors are… confused around him. I believe it has something to do with his arm. It seems to radiate some sort of signal. Master Tony, I do believe we have underestimated the capabilities of his arm.” 

 “We’ll talk later,” Tony promised. “Do you know how long ago he left?”

 “Sixteen minutes, sir." 

 Tony cussed for real then. “That's it. We’re going up.” He changed his course, so instead of flying to Stark Towers he went straight up. 

 “Maximum scanning capabilities in three, two, one…”

 Tony stopped the suit, his vision dancing with spots for a moment from the sudden stop. 

 “I believe I have located him,” Jarvis said a few moments later. “Go to the Holiday Inn five blocks north of the tower.”

 “He’s inside?”

 “On the contrary. He’s on top.”

\-----------------

 Bucky watched Tony fly over. He was sitting on the roof of the building, his back to the corner of the roof’s stone railing. Nikolai was sitting on his lap, the baby carrier on the floor next to him. When Bucky saw him he seemed to sigh and glance over his shoulder, as if trying to decide if he should jump off of the roof.

 He was wearing a short sleeve shirt, his metal arm draped over the stone railing, on full display. 

 “Jarvis?” Tony muttered in the helmet. 

 “I'm already running scans on the arm,” Jarvis promised.

 “Nikolai first. Check for head trauma, blood pressure… heart palpitations, shaken baby syndrome… everything.” 

 Tony raised his arms, a missile raising from the suit, aimed directly at Barnes’ head. He landed on the roof a few feet away, his arm perfectly still. “Barnes. What have you done?” 

 Bucky w etted his lips. His expression was impossible to read. He moved his left arm, using it to cover Nikolai as best as he could. “We went for a walk.”

 “You kidnapped her,” Tony snapped. 

 “We’ve been over this before,” he sneered. “She’s my daughter.”

 “And she’s under my care. I'm going to need you to… to hand her to me. And then maybe I’ll consider not blowing your brains out.” 

 Bucky didn’t move. Nicky made a gurgling noise, reaching to and grabbing his nose, giggling happily when he made a face. 

 “Sir, the scan came back safe,” Jarvis said in Tony’s ear. “Nikolai is fine.” 

 “Start on the arm then,” Tony commanded, his voice not leaving the helmet. Jarvis didn't comment on the breath of relief that Tony let out. 

 Bucky shifted Nikolai on his lap so she was sitting facing Tony, her back to his chest. She stared at the Iron Man suit in awe, her already huge eyes growing wider. Then she noticed a blue roly-poly crawling on Bucky’s metal arm and decided that was much more interesting. 

 “You've been trying to keep her away from me,” Bucky accused, raising his arm so Nikolai could see the little bug better. “Last night, and then today. I told you what would happen if you did that.”

 “I have a business to run!” Tony objected. “I can't be there to babysit whenever you want to play with her! We made a deal to keep you anonymous in exchange for keeping Nikolai at the tower, but in order for that to work you  _need_ to listen to me. I've kept up my end of the deal. Where does that leave you?” 

 He adjusted the target of the missile slightly to the left so it would move, getting Barnes’ attention. Bucky’s eyes followed it, then flickered to the mask, seeming to bore through it. “And last night?”

 “Steve was a wreck. I had to tell him to not go out and look for _you_ because it looked like it was a trap, and he was still ready to do it anyways. He was devastated that I didn't let him throw himself into an ambush because he thought you might have been captured.”

 Bucky winced, actually winced. Tony stared at him, trying to decide if he’d imagined it or not. 

 Tony retracted the missile, closing the suit’s arm and lowering it. “For any of this to work, you need to tell Steve you're okay. Otherwise Captain America is going to drive himself mad searching.”

 A light blinked on Tony’s screen:  _Scan complete._

 He opened the visor so he was looking at Bucky without the barrier. “You know this is what’s right. Think about Steve. Think about _Nicky_."

 They both looked at the little girl sitting up on her own, staring at the blue roly poly in awe. It crawled onto Bucky’s metal hand and he rotated it so she could keep watching it. She reached out and for a moment Tony felt like he was in a Hallmark movie: the adorable baby, eyes wide in awe, reaching out for a creature even smaller than she as she learned an appreciation for life and a greater understanding of the world around her--

 Nikolai grabbed Bucky’s arm and tugged it forwards, closing her mouth around one of his fingers and eating the bug. 

 Bucky looked traumatized. 

 “Oh my God,” Tony muttered. “Oh my God! She just ate that bug, Jarvis is it poisonous? Run a scan, run a fucking scan!” 

 “You just ate a potato bug…” Bucky muttered to Nikolai in horror. “Do you know how gross that is?”

 “Armadillidiidae are not poisonous nor venomous,” Jarvis said in the helmet. “However, if an Armadillidiidae, or ‘Roly Poly’ is blue or purple it is likely sick.” 

 “Jarvis says that bug was sick,” Tony said, eyes wide. “That's it. I'm taking her to the hospital.” 

 “I'll go with you,” Bucky said immediately, standing up.

 “No time, also you're a fucking international fugitive and you probably don't have any fucking health insurance, goddamnit!” Tony snatched the baby carrier from the ground and quickly fastened it on. Bucky helped him put Nikolai into the carrier and Tony wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. The mask snapped down over his face. “Jarvis, activate the emergency propulsors and hands off sequencing. Autopilot to the nearest hospital with speed control.” He lifted off the ground and Jarvis took over, flying them away while Bucky watched from the roof. Tony glanced down just in time to see him jump off the top of the building. 

 “You're going to be so traumatized growing up,” Tony muttered to Nikokai, even though she couldn't hear him through the mask. “I am so sorry.”

\------------

 Iron Man landed outside of the ER with a crying baby strapped to his chest. As soon as he entered the building he was already being escorted to a room, the nurse on duty looking downright panicked. “Someone will be with you in a moment,” they promised.

 Tony very carefully took Nikolai out of the baby carrier, laying her on the examination table where she just began sobbing louder. Jarvis seemed to know what Tony needed more than he did because the armor was opening up, leaving Tony to spill out. As soon as he was out the armor closed back up, moving out of the way and appearing like it had shut down, even though Tony knew Jarvis was using it to keep watch.

 A nurse pushed through the curtains a moment later, looking like she was trying not to show any panic through her expression. “Mr.Stark! What is--"

 “My baby ate a roly poly!” Tony interrupted, running a hand through his hair. “It was blue. Also, I'm worried she might have brain damage or something from swinging around New York like spider man.” 

 It looked like it had just become much harder for the nurse to remain calm. “What?”

 Tony explained what had happened in more detail, purposely avoiding a few too specific questions (“Now Mr.Stark, how exactly did your baby swing from building to building like Spider Man?” “Do you know what parkour is?” “...Yes?” “Like that”). After the nurse got a basic understanding of what happened and actually _looked at Nikolai,_ she seemed much more relaxed. 

 “Mr.Stark, we get a lot of calls and visits from concerned parents,” she said carefully. “It’s perfectly normal to be worried about your baby. However, it seems to me that she’s fine! Her vitals are all good, she stopped crying, and based on what you've told me she should be fine. Bugs really aren't dangerous to consume, even if it was sick, and as long as she wasn’t shaken in this… parkour… I do believe she should be fine.”

 Tony was given a pamphlet on child care and what incidents were ER worthy, and sent on his way. He thanked the nurse and stalked out of the room, holding Nikolai in a way so that she could see over his shoulder. The Iron Man suit walked behind him, following him out of the hospital. 

 “Incoming text from Clint From Work,” Jarvis said in Tony’s com. 

 “Read it to me.” 

 “It’s in all caps, saying--"

 “Actually, don’t read it to me. Tell him that I found her and everything's taken care of.” 

 “Right away, sir.”

 Tony exited the hospital, going around the corner to suit up. He was just figuring out the logistics of getting into the suit without dropping Nikolai when he turned and noticed Bucky standing right beside him. 

 “God! Jeez, warn a guy.” 

 Bucky didn’t even seem to notice. “Is she okay?” 

 “She’s fine, aren’t you, Bird?” Nikolai looked at Tony and he could almost see the gears in her brain shifting, like she was listening _really listening_. “Doctor says everything is fine, but that you shouldn't kidnap her and go on parkour adventures together without asking me first.”

 “Stark--"

 “Doctor’s orders,” Tony insisted. “J, call a car around--"

 “I already did,” Jarvis said, cutting Tony off. “As soon as we landed. You will have to excuse me, Master Tony, but I do feel quite uncomfortable with you carrying Miss Nikolai when flying when she is still so young."

 “You're getting more and more human every day,” Tony muttered, staring into the distance with a glazed over look. “One of these days you cyborgs are going to take over the world.” 

 “Excuse me?” Bucky said, metal and flesh arms crossing in front of his chest. 

 Tony, for the first time in a while, felt himself flush. “I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to…” he tapped on his ear, then realized that Barnes didn't know about his earpiece so he just looked crazy. “Jarvis. He’s an AI, but he’s been dodging me to construct him a human form for a while now. He wants a girlfriend.” Tony shrugged, then shrugged again. “Or maybe a boyfriend. I don’t know, either or, I don't judge. Jarvis?” 

 “A romantic relationship is not necessary to my happiness,” Jarvis said in his ear. “However, I do believe that if I did have one, it would be with whoever caught my eye and I had mutual interests with, regardless of gender.” 

 “Amazing, my AI is more emotionally mature than… everyone. Okay. Oh look, our car!”

\--------------------

 “Oh God, she’s okay,” Clint said as soon as they exited the elevator. “What happened? Where did she--"

 “I left my meeting early and decided to take her for a little fly,” Tony said in a simple, rehearsed manner. “I should have told you Clint.” _Pause_. "I'm sorry.” 

 This seemed to startle Clint, and for a moment the assassin stumbled over his words before landing on “I forgive you? I'm just glad she's okay.” 

 “Yep, well she's fine. Not poisoned or anything.” Clint raised an eyebrow and Tony quickly plowed on. “I’m going to do some work in my lab, I'll be up for dinner. Thanks for nannying.” 

 “Why the lab?” 

 “Well clearly I have some tests to do. See ya.” Tony saluted then turned and went back into the elevator, the doors closing behind him automatically. Jarvis always opened them for him before Tony had a chance to press the button. 

 Tony quickly went through his mind, trying to categorize the sporadic thoughts bouncing around. He had the strange feeling that he'd forgotten something. He’d dropped Barnes off a block away from the tower, parked the car-- it was a second generation self driving simple black model, a wonderful edition to his fleet, except it had trouble reading signs and parking. Tony still preferred having Happy drive him, but the car worked perfectly for secret pickups.

 Tony forced himself to refocus. The Iron Man suit was back in the Hall of Armors, so he hadn't forgotten that. Clint was upstairs, Tony was still holding Nikolai, and Steve and Natasha were probably also in their living quarters…

 “ _Fuck_. Jarvis, status on the quinjet.” 

 “It appears as though the quinjet is gone, sir. Launch time 10:14am." 

 “Great. Just… great. Approximate time until arrival in Moscow?” 

 “One hour and three minutes.” 

 “Manual or automatic controls?” 

 Jarvis seemed almost offended. “Manual controls, of course. I assure you, I am not flying that plane.” 

 “I wasn't doubting you J, just asking. Stealth mode?” 

 “It appears as though the have activated level two stealth mode.” 

 Tony snorted as the elevator doors opened and he stepped into his lab. “So we can still track them, but no one else can. Nice. I should probably teach Nat how to enable level three stealth mode, but that would make my job a lot harder. Jarvis, override controls, code… 5734. Turn the bird around and send her home.” Nikolai whined a little and Tony rubbed her back, shushing her. “No, not you Bird, I was talking about the quinjet. J, I thought SHIELD received our report of it being a false alarm?” 

 “My data shows that they did. However, I don’t believe that affected Captain Rogers’ decision.” 

 “Stubborn, stubborn.” Tony shook his head. He carefully sat Nikolai on the floor, making sure she was able to sit up by herself without trouble before going and washing his hands. “Any word from Bruce?” 

 “He sent you a folder earlier today with a request for advice.” 

 “Put that on the to-do list.”

 “I don't believe there is currently a to-do list running. Would you like me to start one?” 

 “No, no, it's… metaphoric. Just remind me to do it later, okay?”

 “Yes sir. I'm sorry sir, I feel as though I haven't been doing very well recently.” 

 “Hey,” Tony said, his voice going softer. “Don’t worry about it J. Everyone has off days.” 

 “Yes, but I should have informed you about the quinjet earlier. I should've--"

 “I told you J, it’s fine. You're doing amazingly, I'm really proud of you. And Bucky’s arm is messing with your sensors." 

 “Thank you, sir. I still have the scans of the arm, would you like me to pull them up?” 

 “Later,” Tony promised. “First, we have to run some tests.” He scooped Nikolai up, carrying her over to one of the lab counters. The lab was cleaner than the workshop and infinitely more organized, all sterile counters and carefully labeled sample containers. It had the same clearance level as his Hall of Armors, meaning that only Tony was allowed in it except for certain special circumstances. He had some experiments running that couldn't be altered, as well as some very high class DNA. 

 Tony made sure that Steve’s hairbrush was always clean. 

 “Okay, Bird, let’s get started.”

\-----------------

 Two hours later, Tony was still in the lab and Nikolai was asleep. He’d managed to weigh her and take blood samples from her heel while she was still awake, but before too long she became fussy so he gave her a very low grade sedative. He’d done the math and had Jarvis double check it to make sure it was the appropriate dosage for her body size, and Nikolai was expected to wake up in approximately ten minutes.

 Tony only had one more thing to do before Nikolai woke up. He carefully inserted the microchip in the skin behind Nikolai’s ear, and was just adjusting it when Jarvis announced “Sir, Barnes is in the elevator insisting entrance into the lab. He is claiming that your deal gave him unlimited access to all floors of the tower.” 

 “Well he’s _wrong_.” Tony used a antibiotic wipe to dab at the skin behind Nikolai’s ear, then picked up the baby, making sure to support her head. “It’s okay J, let him in.” 

 The elevator opened and Bucky immediately stormed in. “I hope this is some kind of a sick joke to you,” he growled, “because I'm not laughing." 

 “Good to see you too. Wanna hold Nicky?” Tony handed her off without waiting for a response, walking over to the counter to disinfect his workspace. 

 Bucky held Nikolai gingerly. “Why’s she asleep?” 

 “Poor kid was tuckered out. She should wake up soon though.” Tony glanced at one of the vials hanging on the wall, frowning. “Do you need something?” 

 “I wanted to talk to you, but you're not making it very easy.” 

 “Easy isn’t really my style. That's more of Sam’s thing.” He snorted, waving the joke away. “Ignore that. You wanted to talk?” 

 Bucky seemed even more hesitant looking around the lab. “Yeah. About our conversation earlier.” 

 “You’ll have to be more specific.” 

 “Steve.”

 Tony hummed. He pulled up a screen, added a few data points, then saved it under Nikolai’s new folder, closing the screen again. 

 “I think I need to… contact him. In some way. Maybe not right now, but…” 

 “Right now wouldn't work anyways,” Tony interrupted. “He’s not here.” 

 Bucky stiffened. “Where is he?”

 “Ukraine. Or, almost. He stole my quinjet and tried to fly there, again, in search of _you_ , but I turned the plane around before he could get there. He should be back in… J?”

 “Approximately one and a half hours.” 

 “Hmm.” Tony mumbled. “You should talk to him. Definitely. Also, can I see your arm?” 

 Bucky stared at him. 

 “Your flesh arm,” Tony explained, pulling out a syringe. “Stretch it out? This will only take a moment." 

 “No." Bucky frowned like the word was foreign on his tongue, but he didn't take it back.

 “Come on, I just need a little blood. I've been testing Nikolai’s blood against Steve's but there’s no reaction. My current theory is that the serums you and Cap took were different enough to not show up. The point is, I need to get some of your blood to test against Nikolai. Also, if you would do some stress tests for me--" 

 “No,” Bucky said again, more insistent this time. “No blood tests, no syringes, and no experiments, not on me and not on Nicky.” 

 Tony rolled his eyes. “If you have a needle-phobia we can always work around that.”

 Bucky turned around, looking for a control panel for the elevator. When he didn't find one he called out “Jarvis, open the elevator!” 

 “Sir?” Jarvis asked.

 Tony was frozen in place. “Bucky--" 

 “Elevator!” Bucky said again. When it didn't open he pulled out a knife, flicking it open with one hand. “Open the elevator, now.” 

 Tony still hadn't moved, but he knew the look in the man’s eyes. “Can I have Nikolai? It’s almost time for her to eat again.” 

 Nikolai stirred in Bucky’s arms, her eyes half glazed over. “You did this,” Bucky replied. “She already had her afternoon nap. _You did this_. Open the elevator." 

 Tony slowly set the syringe down on the counter. “Barnes? I'm not your enemy, I just want what's best for Nikolai, okay? Your upset, we can talk about that later, but I don’t feel safe with you watching her right now--" 

 “She’s safe,” Bucky said quietly, his voice almost trembling, and Tony was very sure it wasn’t from fear. “ _I’m_ not going to experiment on her.”

 Tony swallowed. “Okay. J?”

 The elevator opened.

\-------------------

 “Fun fact Jarvis, I’m pretty sure your pansexual,” Tony said without much excitement.

 “Hmm, that is an interesting conclusion. However, that did not sound like a very fun fact. Might I suggest doing something to get your mind off of your troubles? Perhaps you could look at the scans of Barnes’ arm, or review Bruce’s notes.” 

 Tony groaned. “I don’t wanna. Do you know what I should do? I should make all of the panels on the outside of the tower touch sensitive. That way I can track Bucky climbing up it. Or even better, I could make them heat activated. Then every time he climbed up the building he’d leave bright pink footprints.”

 Butterfingers quietly drove over, offering Tony a party hat filled with coffee. “Thanks pal, but I’m good. J?” 

 “We could play beer pong,” Jarvis suggested. “Dum-E is on a losing streak.” 

 Dum-E whirred in protest. Tony shook his head. “Not interested. Come on J, you know what I want."

 “The quinjet has landed,” Jarvis said, his voice a little tighter. “My sensors show three heat signatures in the hanger. One is rather… strangely shaped.”

 “Put it on the screen,” Tony said, gesturing at one of the screens blandly. Butterfingers made an upset sounding creaking noise and Tony reached for the party hat of coffee. “You know what, I'll have it. Thanks.” 

 The live video feed flickered to life and Tony swiped to a different camera, scowling when he found the best angle. The quinjet had landed and was powering off. A figure waited on the tarmac, baby strapped to his back, metal and flesh arms crossed.

 Tony watched the ramp descend and Rogers step off of it a few moments later. He froze when he saw Bucky, then ran down the ramp, slowing down right before intercepting him. They exchanged a few comments-- the cameras in the hanger weren’t equipped with audio recording-- and then Steve wrapped his arms around Bucky in a bear hug. Bucky reciprocated it. 

 “Turn it off,” Tony ordered. “J, put Bruce’s notes up, will you? Then open up the plans for the new suit. I have work to do.” 

 He sipped a bit of coffee, gave the party hat back to Butterfingers, and slapped his hands together, getting ready for a long night.

\--------------

 Tony hadn't even gotten around to the designs for the new Iron Man suit by the time Steve was knocking on his door. 

 “Master Tony, it’s--”

 “I know who it is,” Tony cut off. “Do you know where Nikolai is?” 

 “I am currently unable to detect her. Would you like me to activate the tracking chip?” 

 Tony considered it for a long moment before sighing and shaking his head. “Nah. You can let Steve in.” 

 Steve barreled in, immediately striding towards the counter Tony was standing by. Tony quickly scurried to the other side of the counter so at least there’d be something in between him and the super soldier. 

 “You knew about him,” Steve accused immediately. “You knew he was fine and you didn't tell me!”   

 Tony put up his hands in surrender, automatically checking to make sure one of the suits was in close enough vicinity. “We made an agreement! He made me promise not to tell you!”   

 “God Tony, when do the lies stop with you? First this, and then the thing with Nikolai--"   

 “What thing?” Tony demanded. 

 “How you keep trying to hide her away from… _him._ And you experimented on her?” 

 “I don’t have time for this,” Tony decided, deciding to play at casual. “Where’s Nicky now?” 

 “She’s with her dad, her actual dad, Ton’. He… _Bucky_ says that he doesn't know if he can trust you anymore.” 

 Tony stared at him. “Where is he?” 

 “He left, but Tony--"

 “J? That thing that you were talking about? Run it… quietly.” 

 The command ‘quietly’ was Tony’s keyword for ‘I don’t want people in this room to see this’. True to his word, Jarvis didn't make the map appear on the screen. 

 Steve stared at him in horror. “I just… Tony, you can’t do this. You know about Bucky’s past, how could you…”

 “I know nothing about Bucky’s past,” Tony snapped. “He was a Hydra assassin for 70 years, and then he shows up and pretends to be just fine? Yeah, he got out, whatever mind control they used on him faded, okay, cute. Now he wants to play with his baby. He wants unlimited access to Stark Tower. Okay, he’s her dad, he’s had a rough time, I can vibe with that. But don’t you think it seems a little suspicious?” 

 If he was a lesser man, Steve would have picked up the car battery on the workbench in front of him and hurled it at Tony. He would have cussed him out and used his super strength to make him bleed, and Tony would have to scurry to put on his suit to somehow defend himself. Fortunately-- or unfortunately, depending on your take of the situation-- Steve Rogers was righteous to the core. 

 Still, he glowered at Tony. “I don’t know how he escaped Hydra,” he admitted, tone purposefully calm. “But I talked to him, and that wasn’t the Winter Soldier, that was Bucky.”

 Tony noted the emotion in Steve’s eyes, the genuine upset he seemed to be feeling. The scientist in him added it to the _Steve Rogers_ file in his mind. The friend in him felt a little tug in his chest. 

 Jarvis clicked twice, the signal that the tracker was successful. Tony took in a breath. “I'm sorry, Steve.” 

 They talked for not 15 seconds more before Steve was clapping him on the shoulder and walking out of the workshop. As soon as the door closed, Tony flicked the screen up. 

 “Sir, it appears as though Barnes is three blocks away, moving on foot. I am, of course, inferring that Barnes is the one carrying Nikolai. Would you like to pursue?” 

 Tony stared at the map, the little blinking blue light that was his daughter. 

 “Nah. I'm kind of… tired. We’ll let him be a drama queen and talk it out after he’s cooled down.”

 “Sir?” 

 “Continue monitoring the tracker. Let me know if he starts moving faster or if they get very far. Any updates on the samples?” 

 “No updates, sir.” 

 Tony sighed. “I didn’t think so. Monitor Rogers’ activity while you're at it, but keep Voyeur mode turned off, will you? I'm not in the mode to defile Captain America. Not today, at least.”

\---------------

 Jarvis sent Tony texts from time to time, letting him know updates on the things he was monitoring. Tony pretended he didn't need them, and Jarvis pretended he believed him. Jarvis continued sending him the updates. 

 In the meantime, Tony started watching a movie, and managed to watch a full four minutes before getting too restless and turning it off. He ended up in the kitchen, pouring powdered sugar in a bowl while cupcakes baked in the oven.

 

**From: Jarvis**

**Steve Rogers is on his way up to the commons.**

 

 Tony glanced at himself, covered in white powder like it was New Years Eve circa 2000, and decided he didn't care enough to clean up. The elevator dinged right as Tony turned the mixer on high, a puff of powdered sugar flying up and dirtying his glasses. 

 “What are you doing?” Steve asked, not even trying to hide his tone of righteous judgement. 

 “Building a rocket. What do you think I'm doing? I'm making cupcakes.” 

 Steve shrugged, looking at the dirty bowls in the sink with distaste. “You never know with you.” 

 Tony was flattered. He did his best to hide it by flicking some powdered sugar in Captain America’s face. “Thanks,” the Cap said dryly. 

 Tony giggled. “Okay now, Capsicle, I need some advice. War council. Jarvis, erase this meeting from the record, it never happened! Steve.”

 “Yes?” 

 “What flavor should the frosting be? I was thinking orange. The cupcakes are dark chocolate.” 

 “Orange…” Steve repeated slowly. “Do you have… oranges?” 

 “Maybe, I haven't checked, but I could have some delivered. Oh, shit, you're right, Jarvis add oranges to the grocery list. I forgot about you historic types. So orange is good?” 

 Steve made a face, like he was trying to give Tony the best council he could. “I don't know how that would taste with dark chocolate. And it sounds wasteful. Back in my day--"   

 “Yeah, yeah, you got one orange in your stocking for Christmas, I know, I've read this picture book before.” 

 “Actually, I didn't get an orange most Christmases during the depression--" 

 “Yeah,” Tony interrupted. “So what flavor _would_ be good? What did you like as a child-- when you did get cake, I mean.” 

 Steve scrunched up his face in concentration. “Coffee.” 

 “Coffee?” 

 “Coffee.” 

 Tony stared at him. “God you're old. Okay, coffee it is.” Tony turned around, busying himself with putting some of the extra ingredients away. 

 “Tony?” 

 “Hmm?”

 “Any idea where Bucky is right now?” 

  _Buzz Buzz_

 

  **From: Jarvis**

**He’s on top of the Ottoman building.**

 

 “I don’t know,” Tony said. “If you’d like I could have Jarvis look, but I wouldn’t want to invade--" 

 “No, no, you're right. We should respect his… his privacy.”   

 Tony’s stomach rolled at the righteousness. Or maybe that was all the cake batter he’d taste-tested. 

\----------------

 Bucky was a no-show for three days. During that time Tony wasn’t sure who was more miserable-- him or Steve. Jarvis informed Tony when Bucky went to the top of Stark Tower and his phone was active for a few moments before it was shut off again and Bucky continued on his way, never straying too far, but never staying too close. Jarvis also informed Tony when the diaper bag Bucky’d stolen had likely run out of supplies, and reassured Tony that when Bucky went into Walgreens Tuesday morning he was likely restocking. Tony tried not to think about Nikolai or the growing diaper rash she was probably getting, or the possible bruises that must come from doing ultimate skyscraper parkour with her Pops. 

 Tony tinkered on an idea for a new suit-- nanobot technology had incredible potential, but it would take months of engineering to perfect to the point where it could transform into an iron man suit. 

 Meanwhile, Steve did his best to pretend he wasn't moping. He spent more hours at SHIELD, more time in the shower, and more time staring out the window mournfully. From time to time Tony had Jarvis play Bobby Liton from Steve’s speakers, and Steve would scowl and look around at the walls singing “ _Lonely, I'm Mister Lonely…”_

 On day four, most of the cupcakes were gone (besides the ones Tony had hidden in a secret compartment in the refrigerator just for his snacking benefits. So far, Natasha and Clint had spent 3.5 hours trying to open it, but it was encrypted with the same level security as Tony’s workshop, and every time they attempted to open it Jarvis screeched “What’s the password??” in the voice of the old man in _T_ _angled_.) By day four Tony had also had some very interesting findings in his lab. It turned out, according to his data, Nikolai shared approximately 60% of her genetics with a banana, while most people shared approximately 65%. Clint actually shared 98%, but Tony had a feeling that data had been tampered with. 

 Tony was _bored_.

 He’d ran experiments; he’d created; he’d baked; he’d gone to meetings; he’d had two more discussions with Jarvis about the idea of building him a human body and why a robot uprising would not be a good idea, and both times Jarvis huffily conceded, though Tony knew it was just a ruse. Tony had Jarvis cross reference Bucky’s activity with local police reports, with the tendencies of serial killers, with Steve’s own creative jogging paths. Tony read a book on PTSD, then read one on parenting styles, then one on nuclear fission, and had gotten twenty pages in before realizing he’d already read it before. To cheer himself up, he scrolled through Captain America fan pages on tumblr, ordering a few commissioned pieces of art to send to Coulson as a Christmas present. He also ordered a full sized Captain America cardboard cutout; not for him, but for Butterfingers, who always got lonely at night. 

 Then finally, finally, someone broke into the tower. Tony had had Jarvis got on quiet monitoring mode, which made break ins way too easy, because sometimes his pet agents got restless and needed someone to fight. Six Hydra agents made it all the way to the commons before an angry Black Widow, wearing booty shorts and a tshirt that read “Catch Me If You Can, Motherfucker", dropped down on them. From the stairs Clint shot whistle arrows that squealed as they flew through the air, leaving target-shaped bruises on the foreheads of the agents. He was wearing a hot pink shirt that Tony was pretty sure was from Victoria’s secret, but Tony wasn't one to judge. 

 The Hydra agents were all highly trained ones, some of the best, which meant the fight would last closer to two minutes instead of the ten seconds it would normally take. Tony, already awake and notified by Jarvis about them, fought with the prototype hand tasers he’d designed for Natasha. He punched and kicked, and when the agents inevitably got the upper hand, he zapped them. 

 The fight had been going on for almost a full minute when Steve burst out of the stairwell in a panic. His shirt read ‘I Put The Head In Bedhead’, which Tony had personally bought for him and Steve only wore because he didn't understand the innuendo and was too polite to turn down a gift. 

 Steve jumped in and Tony made sure they had the fight under control before stepped out, watching and drinking coffee from the counter as they finished up with the enemy agents. Clint switched to temporary paralysis arrows and pegged two agents immediately, and Steve and Natasha knocked the other three out with practiced ease. 

 “Time!” Tony called when all five agents were on the ground. “Jarvis?” 

 “Two minutes and twenty-one seconds, sir. Master Tony, it appears as though there has been an additional breach on floor… floors my servers… restarting.” 

 Tony looked up in a panic. “Jarvis?” 

 The others immediately stood back to back, all eyes searching for an additional threat. 

 “Tony, we have five agents on the floor, how many--"

 The sixth agent sprinted out of the shadows and all weapons were lifted, but none were as fast as the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes himself, stepped out from behind the stairs and grabbing the agent in one quick move, snapping their neck and letting them drop to the floor dead.

 Nikolai made a quiet gurgle of annoyance on his back and he carefully pulled her out of the baby carrier, standing her up against her chest and patting her back until she burped. 

 “You know,” Natasha said, “We had it under control. It was kind of a... training exercise.”

 Bucky frowned. “Was I… not supposed to kill them?” 

 Tony shrugged. “I mean, they _were_   an enemy agent. We just… usually knock them out so we can bring them in for questioning, and stuff. But it’s fine, it’s chill. Just don’t… do it next time, I guess.” 

 Bucky grunted, like he’d try his best. 

 Natasha, Clint and Steve were still shoulder to shoulder, watching for any threats. Clint cleared his throat, stepped forward and offering his hand. “‘m Clint. I don’t think we've met.”

 “Bucky Barnes,” Bucky said easily, then frowned, like he hadn't meant to say that. He shook Clint’s hand quickly. “We’ve met. Not face to face, but we both tried to kill the same woman in ‘06.” 

 “Ah. That's… nice. Right, you had the…” he cleared his throat, ending the sentence there. “Nice seeing you again.” 

 “You worked together?” Steve asked incredulously. 

 “No,” Clint said, clearing his throat. “Nah, not really."

 Natasha raised an eyebrow as Bucky looked at her. “You remember me?” 

 Bucky made a face like he was either in pain or trying to remember something, it was hard to tell. Nikolai whined and he continued rubbing her back. A flicker of recognition lit up his eyes, and then he quickly tried to hide it. “No, we never met. Do they know Russian?” 

 “Some of them.” 

 “We never met,” he decided. “I'm… Bucky Barnes, I guess.” 

 “Natasha.” 

 “Its… a pleasure,” Barnes said, crinkling his nose like the words tasted bitter. “Anymore of you?” 

 “Not here,” Tony said, talking quickly. “Hey Jarvis? Buddy?” 

 “I am… here, Master Tony. I feel… confused.”

 Tony sighed in relief. “Don’t worry buddy, I think it’s the… a-r-m again. I'll get it figured out.”

Bucky looked at Tony like he was the stupidest person in the world. “I can spell, you know." 

 “Hmm, okay. Anyways, you should get acquainted, I'll just…” Tony quickly took Nikolai from Bucky’s arms, the super soldier/assassin not protesting as he scurried over to the living room, bobbing her in his arms and baby talking to her quietly. “Hey, little bird, how’re you doing? Yeah, is your daddy taking good care of you, has he been changing your diapers, making sure to use the cream? Yeah, I missed you lambie, I missed you little bird, Nicky, Nikolai… little bird, my little bird, how have you been?” 

\-----------------

 

 Tony put Nikolai in her crib to sleep. He had Jarvis reinstate the A-2 security protocol and then tried to figure out where Barnes was as he walked to the refrigerator. He opened it, sticking his head in. 

 “Is she sleeping?” Barnes asked from directly behind him. 

 Tony did his best not to curse like a sailor. He turned around, container in hand. “Here’s a suggestion: stop doing that. Cupcake?” 

 Barnes sniffed at the cupcakes. “Coffee?”

 “Steve's idea, yadda yadda childhood.” 

 “We would never waste perfectly good coffee on a cupcake.” 

 Tony blinked at him. “Then scrape it off.”

 “Like hell I will.” Bucky took the container from Tony, retreating to a stool by the counter to sit and eat. Tony stared at the Tupperware, trying to decide it stealing one of the desserts was worth risking life and limb. “Nikolai?” Barnes asked between bites.

 “She’s asleep. In her crib.”

 Bucky nodded. He pulled a knife from his pocket and used it to scratch his back. 

 “Comfortable?” 

 Bucky made a face.

 “Look, we have to figure something out,” Tony decided. “We can’t keep fighting over her and kidnapping her back and forth. Nikolai needs… stability.” 

 Bucky made another face. “Stability?” 

_ Yeah, you know, like that thing that you don’t have _ . “Yeah. Like sleeping the same place every night, and set nap times, and no impromptu parkour outings.” 

 “Parkour?”

 “I just want the best for her,” Tony said, almost being completely honest. “Will you work with me on this one?” 

 “I'm tired of your whole visiting hours idea, Stark.”

 “That’s not what I'm suggesting.” 

 “Then what are you suggesting?” 

 It was Tony’s turn to make a face. He’d imagined what his future might look like a dozen times over; him being a billionaire weapons dealer; him being a lonely member of addicts anonymous; him dying in Afghanistan, being blown to dust by his own inventions. Never did he imagine this. 

 “I have extra space,” he said, giving Barnes a searching look. “Tell me, how do you feel about co-parenting?” 


	4. Epilogue

 It was about a month later when Tony woke up to an assassin leaning over his face. He almost jumped, but the Winter Soldier pressed his metal hand against his chest firmly, frowning a little. “Steve asked me to go to an amusement park with him. Can you. Babysit?” 

 Tony willed his heart rate to return to normal, shoving Bucky off. “Yeah, sure. I can watch the panda.” 

 “She’s not. A panda.” 

 “Or so we think. We’ve never met the mom, you never know.” 

 “I met her mom. We had a very intimate experience. I'm very sure she was not a panda.” 

 “Oh, so you do know who Ivanka is? Please share.” 

 Barnes made a face. “She is not a panda. Also. She is not very nice. Barton is watching Nikolai. Steve and I are leaving in half an hour. If you are still in bed when I get back we will have Words.”

 Tony shuddered. He did not want to have Words with the assassin. “Will do. By the way, insist on buying everything at the amusement park, and don’t take no for an answer. It makes Steve all flustered.” 

 Bucky considered it. “Hmm. Noted. Will do. Get out of bed.” And then, because he’d been reading a book about co-parenting, he said “You are doing great, friend and fellow parent. Keep up the great job!” 

 His smile did not reach his eyes. 

 Tony squeaked some form of thanks and watched the assassin crawl off of his bed and saunter away. 

 His relationship with Bucky was… interesting. Bucky had finally agreed to move into the tower, which was convenient, but also slightly terrifying at times. Jarvis sometimes shorted out around Bucky, which Bucky used to his advantage, going wherever he pleased without giving Jarvis the chance to warn anyone. More than once that week Tony had put Nikolai on the nice rug in his workshop and looked away, and when turning to check her, found the soldier laying there calmly, messing with his phone as the baby crawled over his chest. Nikolai wasn’t crawling much, but when she did crawl, it was only when Bucky was around. Tony always cooed when she did something impressive; Bucky just smiled lazily and complimented her in sarcastic Russian, saying things like “<Impressive crawling, little bug. Back in the motherland they would be choosing which babies to keep at your age. If you crawled like that, they would probably decide to abandon you in the woods.>” 

 Then Bucky would smile at her like she was the actual sun and Nikolai would make some baby noise and laugh, booping him on the nose or grabbing a handful of his hair in one of her tiny fists and trying to eat it. She tried to eat whatever she could, but she preferred chewing on Bucky’s metal fingers and any long hair. It made Tony glad he kept his short, because Natasha and Bucky always took a risk picking Nikolai up. 

 Tony got dressed quickly, keeping an eye on the time as he tugged on a shirt and sauntered into the main living area. All of the Avengers currently residing at the tower were sprawled around the living room and kitchen, with Bucky holding Nikolai to his shoulder as he and Natasha argued loudly in Russian. Tony tried to keep up with the conversation, but they were talking in a slightly weird dialect that messed with the vowels and slurred everything else, so Tony rubbed his eyes and decided that it was too early to deal with it. 

 Steve came out of the kitchen, carrying a cooler and wearing a big, bright, all-American smile. “I packed the sandwiches, the veggie chips, the water bottles--”

 “Did you get my Red Bull?” 

 Steve smiled tiredly. “Yes, I packed your Red Bull. That stuff is going to kill you one day.” 

 Tony didn't doubt it. Ever since he moved in to the tower, Bucky had picked up some strange eating habits. He specifically liked Red Bull, and drank enough of it a day to kill a normal person, but had also found a fancy for more expensive food. He liked getting off-brand potato chips and dipping them in caviar, or buying lobster just to shell them and use them in his morning eggs. It was horrendous, and Tony had a feeling he only did it to spite him. 

 Nicky wrapped a chubby fist around Bucky’s hair and pulled, making Bucky ramble in Russian “<Ah ah ah, that hurts little Nikolai. Do that again and I'll chop you up and eat you in my omelet, does that sound nice? No it doesn’t, so stop it.>” 

 Steve walked over and offered to take her. Nikolai made grabby hands for Steve, and both of their faces lit up respectively as soon as Steve was holding her. “Aww, aren’t you a sweet little thing. Yeah, honey, that's right. I'm here to save you from big mean ol’ Bucky.” He swatted at Bucky’s baseball cap, covering his eyes. 

 Bucky fixed it pointedly, scowling. “<I will shank you Rogers. Watch it.>” 

 Steve ignored him like it was his job, continuing to coo at the baby. Tony had a feeling he could teach Nikolai life skills and provide a good home; Bucky could help with languages and fighting; and Steve could offer infinite love and support. Tony and Bucky would try their best, of course, but neither of them really knew how to do that. But Captain America? He practically radiated it. 

 Steve and Bucky hurried to finish getting ready, then Steve passed Nikolai over to Tony and patted his back on his way out. Bucky turned to Tony, a little too serious, and shook his hand. It was weird, but Tony was used to it. The co-parenting book suggested hugging or kissing each other’s cheeks before leaving the house, but Bucky wasn’t quite ready for that, so they shook hands instead. 

 Then, it was just Tony, Nikolai, and Natasha. Still holding the baby, Tony made his way over to the kitchen, setting a new pot of coffee to brew and glancing at the whiteboard on the refrigerator. Next to that day’s date, and under the time ‘7:30’ was a little check, meaning Nikolai had already been fed her first meal of the day. With somewhere between two and seven adults living in the tower at any given time, and feeding duties being passed off multiple times a day, they’d needed some form of organization, especially when Nikolai started getting extra fussy and would only calm down with more food. At first, the theory had been that she wasn't actually being fed as much as they thought, hence the chart, but even after the chart’s creation it was still an issue. There’d been almost a two-day swabble between Tony and Bucky after that, including a lot of slammed doors (it turned out the Soldier could match Tony’s drama levels without effort), a minor food fight of blueberry-apple baby food versus banana-pear, and eventually, a small intervention from the other residents of the tower. Finally, the decision was made that Tony and Bruce could run some more tests on Nikolai, only under the conditions that they treated it like a basic medical check up and that Bucky could stay and watch. Bruce was flown in, and Nikolai was given a few more tests, all under the watchful eye of her dad, who sat crisscross on the counter and scowled the entire time. Finally, it was realized a third opinion was needed, and about twenty NDA’s later, a nice but slightly intimidated lady doctor was looking at them like they were crazy and saying “It appears she has a higher metabolism. I don’t yet understand why, but until we figure it out she needs to be eating more.” 

 If there was anything that ended Tony and Bucky’s feud, it was that. They made eye contact across the room, both freaking out internally before Tony regained his composure and thanked the doctor. 

 So, Nikolai may, possibly, have had the serum. At the time, that just meant she needed to be eating more, and Tony spent most of his waking hours trying to devise a plan to ask Bucky about what  _ his  _ serum did. He’d considered taking him out for food, maybe bribing him with flowers or gifts, or even trying to get him drunk, but none of them seemed all that likely. He was just beginning to consider the possibility of hypnosis when Steve randomly asked “Hey Buck, what does your serum do?” 

 Tony froze, waiting for Captain America to get murdered on his expensive couch, when Bucky said “Strength. Agility. Better f-f-f-f-- combat skills. Increased metabolism, increased senses. Decreased pain receptors. And I have to cut my nails more often.” 

 Steve just hummed with interest and continued doodling. 

 To Tony’s knowledge, Nikolai hadn't shown any signs of any of the other symptoms, but he started being aware since then, keeping an eye on her awareness of her surroundings as well as her tiny baby nails. 

\--------------

  
  


 Tony had imagined a lot of different ways his life could go. He’d imagined following in his father's footsteps, he'd imagined dying off early in a ditch somewhere, he'd imagined living the bachelor life, making new green energy projects and generally being unappreciated. But he’d never imagined this. 

 Bucky Goddamn Barnes (yes, the one from  _ World War 2 _ ) was standing in his kitchen.  _ Their _ kitchen. He was naked except for a pair of oversized white boxers with red hearts on them, and he held  his baby their baby to his chest, rocking her and hushing her in soothing Russian. 

 Honestly. Tony didn’t know  _ what the fuck  _ his life had become, but there was a hardened assassin in his kitchen, and apparently he'd adopted a little Russian baby, and Tony still didn't know how the fuck any of it happened, but he wasn't going to complain.

 From where he was standing in the kitchen Bucky glanced up, catching Tony's eyes. He showed no sign of shame for those horrendous shorts. In fact, he hardly reacted at all, continuing to rock his baby. He did, however, smirk, and subtly flip Tony off. 

 What the fuck. Honestly.

 Tony rolled his eyes, rolled up his sleeves and joined him, giving the assassin a little kiss on the cheek as he passed. Bucky slapped him in the thigh in retaliation, not even looking away from the baby. 

 Tony wouldn't change it for the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end :)


End file.
